TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 




HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, MOHAMMED ALI MIRZA, 
SHAH OF PERSIA. 



Twenty Years in Persia 

A Narrative of Life under 
the Last Three Shahs 



BY 



JOHN G. WISHARD, M.A., M.D. 

Director of the American Presbyterian 
Hospital, Teheran 




New York Chicago Toronto 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 



Copyright, 1908, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



$ /.so 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Conies Received 

OCT 27 1908 

oXttMn 

COPY B. 






New York: 4 ^58* Fifth Avenue 
Chicago : 80 Wabash Avenue 
Toronto : 25 Richmond St., W. 
London : 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh : 100 Princes Street 






s-f i 






DEDICATION 

To my wife, who, by establishing an 
American home in that far-away land, 
greatly added to the charm of our Oriental 
life, and by her wise counsel and never- fail- 
ing enthusiasm potently aided every depart- 
ment of our work. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction . ..... 9 

I. The Kurd and His Nestorian Neighbour 15 
II. Among the Bandits and Brigands of Kur- 
distan 27 

III. Conditions of Life along the Turco-Persian 

Frontier . . . . . . .46 

IV. On to Teheran ...... 7 2 

V. The Shah's Capital ., . . . .83 

VI. The Environs of Teheran .... 102 
VII. Tabriz and the Western Province . .119 
VIII. Kum, Sultanabad, and Hamadan . . .127 
IX. Persian Topography and Its Influence on 

the People 140 

X. Concerning the Languages, Religions, and 

Philosophies of Persia . . . .153 

XI. Life among the Upper and Better Classes 177 

XII. Life among the Lower Classes . . . 196 

XIII. Medical Missions in Persia .... 216 

XIV. American Missions and Social Reforms in 

Persia 236 

XV. Commerce, Industries, and Laws . . .255 
XVI. The Persian Government .... 279 
XVII. The Assassination of Nasr-ed-Din Shah 300 
XVIII. Muzaffar-ed-Din Shah, and the Constitu- 
tion 307 

XIX. Mohammed Ali Mirza, Shah, and Political 

Reforms in Persia . . . . .3*9 
XX. The Reform Movement . . . . . 330 

5 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING 
PAGE 



His Imperial Majesty, Mohammed Ali Mirza, Shah 

of Persia Title 

A Natural Phenomenon, often Seen in Mesopotamia 20 

A Kurdish Woman . 4° 

A Kurdish Wedding Dance 50 

A Persian Grocer 50 

American Presbyterian Hospital, Teheran . . 72 

Royal Gardens, Teheran 96 

Bagh-e-Shah 96 

A Typical Persian Town of the Highlands . .112 

A Persian Train 112 

Ruins of the Blue Mosque at Tabriz . . . .122 
The Inscriptions in Persian, Median, and Babylonian 

at the ganj-nomeh, near hamadan . . . i36 

Tomb of the Poet Omar Khayyam .... 150 

A Persian Theatre 156 

Indoor Costume of Persian Women .... 194 

Street Costume of Persian Women .... 194 

A Persian Hakim's (Doctor's) Establishment . . 198 

Tea Time in a Mission Hospital .... 218 

The Pavilion for Women 224 

The American Presbyterian Hospital, Teheran. 

Physician's Residence 224 

First Modern Surgery in Teheran . 234 - 

Saturday Morning Clinic ...... 240 

7 



8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 
PAGE 

The American Colony at the Dedication of the First 

Hospital for Women at Teheran . . •• . 254 
Some of the Persian Constabulary .... 274 

The Crown Prince of Persia 280 

Nasr-ed-Din Shah ......... 300 

Muzaffar-ed-Din . 308 

Five Thousand Priests, Merchants, and Artisans 
Marching to the British Legation, Teheran, for 
Refuge at the Beginning of Persia's Political 

Troubles in 1906 314 

The Late Prime Minister of Persia, Attabeg Emin-e- 

Sultan 324 

Members of the First Parliament from the Province 

of Teheran . 334 

The Great Shrine at Kum • > r « M «. . 334 
Map of Persia > : ... M m « m m > 344 



INTRODUCTION 

PERSIA is not on any of the beaten paths 
familiar to "round the world " travellers, 
and, consequently, has been visited by com- 
paratively few Americans. We have no way of 
knowing exactly the number of citizens of the Great 
Republic who have visited Iran, but, exclusive of 
children born in Persia of American parentage, the 
number is under rather than above three hundred. 
The description of any land visited by less than 
four out of a million of our citizens cannot be said 
to be very well known, and ought to present some 
interesting phases of life from many standpoints. 
This is especially true of Persia when we remem- 
ber her long and honourable history, her learning 
and civilisation, that date back almost to the begin- 
ning of time and that have been hidden for centu- 
ries from the Western World. 

The recent potentially mighty changes in the po- 
litical, social, and economic life of the nation have 
served to call the attention of readers anew to that 
interesting land where some of the sweetest poets 
have sung; from whence have sprung some of the 
world's greatest armies — the land of the Fire- 
Worshipper and the Sun. It is especially inter- 

9 



10 INTRODUCTION 

esting to us as the place from which the white race 
sprang. Its name is known in the Persian language 
as Iran, pronounced E-ron, which is from Arya, 
hence the Aryan races. 

Persia has been hidden largely from the world 
by her geographical position. Had she been on any 
of the great highways of travel, she could not have 
remained in apathy, as she has done for centuries 
past. Commercially, her northern and eastern 
boundaries have been jealously guarded by Russia; 
while the entrance from Trebizond means a long, 
dangerous caravan journey through one of the 
wildest parts of eastern Turkey. The route 
through the Gulf takes one to the southern prov- 
inces; but these are separated from the Capital 
and more important centres by high mountains, and 
by burning deserts, which can be crossed only by 
the slow-moving caravan. There are, as yet, but 
six miles of railroad in the country in operation, 
running from Teheran to Shah- Abdul- Azim. 

The present work is based upon three journeys 
to the Orient, and, as will be apparent to the reader, 
might really have been divided into two parts, 
namely, the first three chapters treating of experi- 
ences in the wildest regions of Kurdistan, and the 
remaining seventeen dealing with Persia as a whole. 
The reader will easily follow the plan by referring 
to the map. The notes from which the different 
chapters have been written have been carefully re- 
vised, and, as far as possible, verified. While the 



INTRODUCTION 11 

size of the volume is modest, mistakes will doubtless 
be found, and for these the author begs the readers' 
indulgence. No attempt has been made to produce 
a book of literary value, the purpose of the writer 
being to give an interpretation of the lives of the 
Persian people, as well as a description of their 
country. There is no profession that gives the same 
opportunity to see life in the Orient, as it really is, 
like that of medicine. The doctor is called into the 
homes of the rich and the poor alike; into the 
harem, as well as into the business offices, and the 
opium dens in the bazaar. If the author has failed 
to present an interesting study of this kaleidoscopic 
Oriental life, it has been because the lips of the 
physician must remain in large measure sealed. 
Obviously, the writer would much rather present 
a tame story than divulge information gained 
through professional confidences. 

Quotations will doubtless be found in the book, 
possibly, from articles by the author in The Inde- 
pendent, the New York Herald, The Interior, Her- 
ald and Presbyter, Indianapolis News, Christian 
Endeavor World, and other periodicals, that 
should be acknowledged here, notwithstanding the 
fact that the quotations are slight, and, in nearly 
every instance, have been re-written. 

No special system of spelling has been followed, 
though, when possible, the usual one has been 
chosen. Whenever a Persian word has been used, 
the equivalent in English has also been given; hence 



12 INTRODUCTION 

the spelling and pronunciation do not matter so 
much after all. 

All unnecessary criticism has been avoided, be- 
cause such things rarely do good, and nearly always 
do harm. Besides, the author considers it a privilege 
to say that he counts many friends among the 
Persians; friends who have stood by him through 
sunshine and shadow, through sorrow and gladness, 
and it would have been ungracious in him to make 
criticisms on their manner of life and thought. 

The American Hospital in Teheran, which the 
author had the honour and privilege of founding and 
conducting for many years, is considered by the 
Persians as one of their own institutions, and its 
philanthropies are of such a character that men of 
every creed can have a part in it, notwithstanding 
the fact that it is a distinctively Christian establish- 
ment. Last year, the first hospital for women in the 
Shah's Capital was built by us, the funds being 
given by a Mohammedan lady of high rank inter- 
ested in the welfare of her sisters. If some com- 
ments on existing systems seem to border on crit- 
icism, the author begs to say that they are the faith- 
ful reproofs of a friend. He has little patience with 
the flippant criticisms that are so freely indulged in 
by some Westerners when discussing Persia and her 
problems. It is a time for those who love Iran to 
rally to her support. 

The author has to thank several good friends who 
have been kind enough to look over the present 



INTRODUCTION 13 

manuscript, as well as to offer suggestions that have 
proven helpful. He thanks also the Librarian of 
the University of Wooster, for kindly permitting 
free access to the valuable collection of books at the 
University touching upon travel and life throughout 
the Orient. The volume has been written during 
a holiday spent in Wooster — that delightful Ohio 
town — during 1908. 



TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 



THE KURD AND HIS NESTORIAN 
NEIGHBOUR 

ON either side of the Turco-Persian frontier, 
far removed from the powers that rule 
at Constantinople and Teheran, there is 
a vast region, some three hundred miles long and 
two hundred miles wide, called Kurdistan. Physi- 
cally, it is one of the roughest countries in the 
world, and seems a fit abode for the rough, wild, 
and lawless tribes that prefer a home with liberty 
and self-government in the barren mountains, to a 
habitation on the fertile plain within easy reach of 
the ever-present Turkish and Persian tax-gatherer. 
The boundary of this vast region is not well de- 
fined, except on the west, where the Tigris River 
separates it from Mesopotamia. On the east and 
southeast, the towering mountains so gradually 
grow into foothills that one can hardly tell where 
the mountains cease and the high plateaux that soon 
spread out, to become later the fertile plains of 
that part of Persia, begin. The term " stan," as 
used by the Oriental, simply means abode or coun- 

15 



16 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

try. Kurdistan, then, means the abode of the Kurds; 
Arabistan, the land of the Arabs; and Frankistan, 
the home of the Franks or Europeans. Kurdis- 
tan may well be said to be the home of the Kurd; 
indeed, he is at home nowhere else. His very char- 
acter seems to have partaken of the ruggedness 
of the mountain crag. To him no artist has ever 
painted the beauty of the mountain as nature has 
painted it. The palace and fortress of the Euro- 
pean are to him only an imitation of what nature 
has done for his clan in raising the high mountain 
walls to protect his people, from an invasion by 
the Turks on the west, and from the Persians on 
the east. The very word government to him is dis- 
tasteful, and is the synonym for oppression. An 
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, is the only 
law that he respects. Anything less than this, in his 
judgment, is weakness. 

The language of the Kurds is a dialect of the 
Persian, but in writing they use the Arabic, the . 
tongue of the Koran. The difficulty in translating 
any books into Kurdish has been that the tongues 
of the different tribes widely differ. However, the 
Scriptures have been translated into the more com- 
mon dialects, but until schools are established no 
one can read them, except the few leaders who 
are all devout Mohammedans, and naturally are 
not anxious to have these books gain favour with 
the people. Another thing that has retarded the 
circulation of the Scriptures and other books among 






THE KURD AND NESTORIAN 17 

them, has been their hatred of their Nestorian 
neighbours. 

The mountain Nestorians number not more than 
two hundred thousand, while the Kurds, probably, 
are not less than two millions. The Nestorians are 
a part of the Apostolic Christian Church, while the 
Kurds are all Mohammedans. The Kurds were 
there when Xenophon passed through with his 
hosts, and we read that they amused themselves 
casting down large stones upon the heads of the 
Greeks. After some experiences that I had among 
these same people, which I shall relate further on in 
this book, I have always had a good deal of 
sympathy for the followers of the ambitious Greek. 
As some writers have pointed out, there is a charm 
about the rugged character of the Kurd, but it is 
the sort of charm that one feels when one meets 
with a lion. If restrained, the Kurd is no doubt 
greatly to be admired, but the bravest will give him 
plenty of room when meeting him in the lonely 
mountain road. 

The mountain Nestorians are now little better 
than the Kurds, except those who have been touched 
by the influence of the missionaries. Some of these 
Kurds are men of deep, simple piety, often enduring 
severe persecution from their less enlightened neigh- 
bours. When we remember their history, it is not 
strange that the mass of the people are slow to 
recognise the friendly hand of help offered to them 
by the Christian Church in America and England. 



18 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

They were a strong, prosperous people before the 
Mohammedans overran Asia, living on the plains 
of Assyria, sustaining schools and colleges, whose 
students carried to China, and throughout India, 
probably, the first message telling that the Messiah 
had come. The Rev. Thomas Laurie, in his life 
of Dr. Asahel Grant, the first American medical 
missionary labouring in Persia, says, " In China a 
writer (S. W. Williams, of Canton) thinks the 
Nestorians were found as early as 505 a.d. 
Olopun was Bishop of Nanking in 636, and there 
was a metropolitan in Peking in 714. In earlier 
times, there were two metropolitan sees in China; 
one called Chambaluch, or Chanbalek (Peking), 
and the other Panchet, or Tanghut. But these were 
united in 1268. In 1625, a Chinese inscription was 
discovered at Si-ngan-Fu, in one of the western 
provinces, which had been erected by Nestorians in 
781 (some say in 782), giving an account of the 
Christian religion, and a list of ecclesiastics who had 
laboured in China. The missionary efforts of the 
Nestorians in China seem to have ceased about the 
time of the expulsion of the Moguls, in 1369; and 
after that time they gradually declined. It has gen- 
erally been supposed that all traces of their labours 
have been obliterated in China ; but a missionary in 
Ningpo, which is on the coast, a little south of 
east from Si-ngan-Fu, writes that ' a respectable 
stranger from one of the western provinces came to 
our chapel, and listened with much attention. After 



THE KURD AND NEST ORIAN 19 

service, he said that he and his ancestors worshipped 
only one God, the Creator. He knew of Moses and 
Jesus and Mary; said he was not a Romanist or a 
Mohammedan, neither had he seen our books; but 
that the doctrine was handed down from his ances- 
tors for many generations. He said that in his 
native place thirty families are of the same religion, 
who had books, but did not circulate them.' " 

The decline of these missionary labours of the 
Nestorians in China at this early date was not due 
altogether to disturbances in the Celestial Empire, 
as some writers seem to think, but rather to the 
Mohammedan hosts which swept across Asia Minor 
and forced the Assyrians from their homes into the 
wild recesses of the Kurdish mountains — thus cut- 
ting off the very source of Christian civilisation 
that had entered the Celestial Empire. Nisibis, with 
its beautiful gardens, fertile plains, and productive 
vineyards surrounding the college and monastery, 
the pride of the Nestorian nation, was destroyed. 
Instead of the Angelus bell was heard the Mullah's 
cry, " God is God and Mohammed is His prophet." 
When I visited the place, a few years ago, there was 
little to indicate its former greatness. A few 
gardens and tumbled-down houses, a dirty bazaar 
filled with Arab traders, was about all that could be 
seen. We came into the town just at noon, and we 
were glad to find protection from the July sun in a 
little grove on the river Chebar, just west of the 
town. The day was terrifically hot, and both our 



20 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

men and beasts spent much of the afternoon in the 
stream trying to keep cool. 

Along this river had been the home of the Cap- 
tives at the time of the prophet Ezekiel, and here he 
had his wonderful vision. I have observed that one 
may yet occasionally see in that region the natural 
phenomenon upon which it was based. The intense 
heat and dust causes the air to fill with small par- 
ticles of, sand until everything takes on a hazy ap- 
pearance. This increases until the coming of a 
wind storm, a sort of sirocco that blows for three 
days, which somewhat clears the atmosphere. Not 
infrequently there comes with it the " whirlwind," 
from the " north," that causes these dust clouds to 
form into semicircles across the sky, through 
which the sun bursts with wonderful beauty and 
brightness, giving the exact picture presented by the 
prophet of " a wheel in the middle of a wheel," a 
great cloud, and a fire enfolding itself. It is not 
hard to fancy in these cloud-pictures the forms of 
" living creatures," " with wings," and with all 
sorts of curious faces. The colour is all there, as told 
in the first chapter of Ezekiel; the scene is one of 
extraordinary grandeur and sublimity, and it is not 
hard for those who have witnessed it to understand 
why the prophet chose it as a symbol through 
which to interpret some of the revelation of his 
prophecy. Even the stoical Arab stops his caravan 
to-day to take notice when the heavens are thus 
overcast. To the Captives, who were of all people 



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THE KURD AND NESTORIAN 21 

the most religious, this phenomenon was as direct 
a revelation as the mighty spiritual words of the 
prophet. 

There is no doubt that the Apostolic Church sent 
missionaries into the region at an early period. 
Schools of medicine, law, and theology were estab- 
lished, and the doctrines of the early Church were 
publicly proclaimed in the streets. Commercially, 
the people were prosperous, and the products of the 
fertile plain about them found profitable markets in 
the towns and cities along the Tigris and Euphrates 
rivers. But it was as a seat of Christian learning 
and culture that Nisibis was best known. The 
people were at that time followers of the arts of 
peace, but circumstances seemed to force them to 
learn the savage practices of war. They were the 
followers of the lowly Nazarene, the vanguard of 
Christianity, even as far as into China, but for these 
things the world does not seem to have been ready. 
Had the near East accepted the " Doctrine," as it 
was called, the seat of learning, power, and finance 
might have been there to-day, instead of in Europe 
and the New World. 

When the Mohammedans came down on Nisibis 
and that region, the Christians fled toward the 
Tigris, some building rafts, on which they sought 
shelter under the shadow of their co-religionists in 
Bagdad, while others crossed the river and found 
safety and freedom in the mountains among the 
savage Kurds. Later, the then heathen Kurds 



22 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

accepted the religion of their Arab neighbours, and 
thus the Nestorian Church was isolated from the 
West. In Kurdistan, they had found homes in the 
narrow valleys and deep ravines between high 
ranges of mountains. At first their one thought 
was to return again to the plain and re-establish 
their lost possessions, but after a few generations 
their former civilisation was largely forgotten and 
many of the sons preferred the wild life of the 
mountaineer to the stuffy halls of the monastery. 
They had now learned the savage art of war, and 
their history from that period on has been one of 
warfare, often most cruel and disastrous. 

There was left, however, a scholastic remnant 
that kept alive, to a degree, the traditions and teach- 
ings of their once famous ancestors. They built 
monasteries wherever practicable, and when this 
was not possible, because of their Kurdish neigh- 
bours, they sought for themselves shelter in caves, 
and in these secluded places they copied their 
ancient Syriac Scriptures and manuscripts, and 
taught a limited number of boys to read. As the 
refugees increased in number, they entered other 
valleys, and as often as possible did to the Kurds 
just what the Arabs and Tartars had done for them 
down on the plain at Nisibis, driving them from 
their homes and killing as many as possible. It was 
a struggle for life with numbers and all the odds 
against the Christians. As new communities sprung 
up, isolated from all sympathy, surrounded by 



THE KURD AND NESTORIAN 28 

hostile, savage tribes, the moral decline of the people 
was inevitable. 

Their proud spirit, however, has never been 
broken. I remember once coming into one of 
these little communities and being the guest of 
the village priest. He told me that he had read 
every book in the world. I asked him how many- 
books he thought there were in the world. He 
replied that there were three, and then he proceeded 
to exhibit his library with great pride. In another 
village I found only one book, but the priest had 
made the most of that, for he had three pupils. In 
teaching these three boys the book was placed on 
the floor in front of the monk, a boy at the right, 
another on the left, and one at the top of the book 
facing the teacher. This latter one had learned to 
read with the book upside down, and he said that it 
was with difficulty that he could read the book in 
any other position. 

The lesson of frugality is severely taught from 
childhood. In some places the resources of a whole 
village are not more than the amount spent by a 
family living quite modestly in America. The soil 
for the small patches of cultivated ground that are 
terraced up on the side of the mountain, is often 
brought long distances on the backs of women. 
Many of the districts have no horses or mules. In- 
deed, the horse would be quite useless in climbing 
the steep mountains, and mules are too expensive 
for them. A mountain Nestorian is too proud to 



24 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ride a donkey. My travelling companion once had 
with him a horse, and on several occasions it was 
necessary to swing him in ropes in order to get him 
over some of the narrow and dangerous places. 

The fields are given up to rice and tobacco, 
chiefly, although some millet is grown. There are 
groves of olives in the warmer valleys. Upon the 
hills roam the flocks that not only furnish meat, but 
the wool for their homespun clothing. They make 
their own gunpowder, and all go heavily armed. 
Life is cheap and the murderer often goes unpun- 
ished. Why should life not be cheap when there is 
so little to live for ? Besides, it is easy to cross the 
frontier and escape if pursued. 

In every village there is a priest to solemnise 
marriages, bury the dead, and, on Easter and other 
feasts read the ritual of the Church. I do not think 
I found many priests that understood the ancient 
Syriac, the language of their church ritual, at least 
sufficiently well to make a decent translation into 
the modern language. Indeed, most of them had no 
more idea of what they repeated as prayers than 
they would have had, had it been English. Scat- 
tered through the mountains are a number of 
bishops exercising more or less authority, and, 
above all, the Patriarch. 

We visited the latter once, the father of the pres- 
ent head of that Church, at Kochanes. This vil- 
lage, not far from the Turkish government post of 
Julamerk, has been the home of the Patriarch for 



THE KURD AND NESTORIAN 25 

many years. It consists of a church built on the 
verge of a precipice, surrounded by a large number 
of graves, the home of the Patriarch being sur- 
rounded by those of his attendants and relatives. A 
more picturesque and charming spot could not have 
been chosen by those who had been ordained to be 
the spiritual head of the Nestorian people. When 
we were there the waving grain had not yet been 
harvested. The Kurds, from whom they always 
fear an attack, were away for the summer with 
their flocks, in the high meadows of the mountain, 
and so we were allowed to pitch our tents in the 
grove near the Patriarchate. We were told that 
this was not always safe, although the grove was 
but a few yards from the village. 

Life at this ecclesiastical and political Nestorian 
centre is full of interest. The Patriarch is respon- 
sible to the Turkish Government for the conduct of 
the different tribes, and for this he receives a salary. 
The chiefs are appointed by him, and this, of itself, 
is enough to produce all sorts of intrigues and jeal- 
ousies. There are daily reports from the various 
districts brought by messengers. These are usually 
filled with accounts of attacks by the Kurds, besides 
all sorts of schemings, and an endless tale of savage 
wretchedness. 

Our call upon this Catholicos of the East was full 
of interest. We found him a man from forty-five 
to fifty years of age, polite and cordial in his bear- 
ing, anxious that our visit should be pleasant, and 



26 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

he freely discussed the material and spiritual wel- 
fare of his people with my companion, the Rev. 
Dr. Coan. The fact that Dr. Coan's parents were 
among the early missionaries to this people no 
doubt gave him an entree at the Patriarchate, even 
more cordial than others might expect. This was 
as it should be, as these early American Christian 
ambassadors rendered a great service to his people. 



It 



AMONG THE BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 
OF KURDISTAN 

THE American Mission to these alien races 
in West Persia was established in 1835, at 
the request of the people themselves. Re- 
peated attempts have since been made to do for the 
tribes in the Kurdish mountains what has been done 
for the people on the Persian side of the mountains, 
on the fertile plain around Lake Urumia. Dr. 
Grant, a medical missionary, established himself in 
the heart of the mountains as early as 1840, and 
laboured for several years with a great degree of 
success. No doubt the mission would have been 
permanent had not a war between the Nestorians 
and the Kurds resulted in the forcing of Dr. Grant 
to withdraw to Mosul, where he contracted fever 
and died. He had strongly pointed out to the Nes- 
torians that a war with the overwhelming number 
of Kurds could have but one result — the complete 
defeat of the Christians. He also laboured with the 
Kurds and Turks, and tried in every way to save 
the Nestorian women and children from slaughter, 
but with no avail. The Kurds, when they came 
down on the Nestorian villages, showed no mercy, 

27 



28 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

for it was a religious war, and hundreds of the men 
were killed, while women were carried away as 
slaves to the harems. We had pointed out to us one 
place where even this fate was denied the helpless. 
A large number of the aged men, women, and 
children had sought refuge in a cave high up in the 
mountains overlooking a deep ravine. By some 
means the Kurds became aware of the presence of 
those who had scaled the rock, and cast them into the 
ravine, a thousand feet deep. None escaped, and 
when I visited the place, fifty years later, the bones 
of those who had been massacred could be found in 
this valley of death. 

Embittered by having to reap the fruit of their 
own folly, with their homes and fields destroyed, the 
people, greatly reduced, returned after the Kurds 
had gone, to begin life anew. The American Pres- 
byterian Mission in Urumia — ever ready to help 
them — has continued ever since a more or less close 
relationship with them. They helped them to estab- 
lish schools, educated mountain boys for teachers 
and preachers, treated their wounded and sick in 
their hospitals, and in times of famine assisted them 
with grain and money. 

Several years ago, at the urgent request of 
one of the strongest Nestorian chiefs and his people, 
it was thought best to attempt again the location 
of a mission station in Tiary, near where Dr. Grant 
had laboured, one of the wildest and most rugged 
districts in all Kurdistan. The difficulties of such 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 29 

an undertaking need only be enumerated to be 
understood. There was no mail service closer than 
Mosul, one hundred and twenty-five miles away. 
There was not a market in the entire district, nor 
was there money with which to buy anything; in 
fact, there was nothing to trade or sell except quan- 
tities of gall-nuts. The population consumed all the 
grain and vegetables produced by the little terraced 
fields on the sides of the mountains. During two 
winters spent in the region we often had difficulty 
in procuring food. But this difficulty was of much 
less moment and caused us much less anxiety than 
the strife and feudal wars, from which we seemed 
to be unable to get away. 

It seemed almost necessary at that time that a 
medical man should have a part in this new work, 
and I, having been asked to assist in the undertak- 
ing, proceeded to East Turkey, where I joined the 
Rev. E. W. McDowell, who had already spent 
some months looking up a suitable location for the 
establishment of the mission. This was in the 
winter of 1888-89, and the journey had been made 
across Asia Minor on horseback from Alexandretta 
on the Mediterranean via Aleppo, Diabekir Mar- 
din, to Jezira on the Tigris. Those of my readers 
who have had the misfortune to have visited Alex- 
andretta will remember it as a miserably dirty Turk- 
ish town of perhaps fifteen thousand inhabitants, 
noted for its fever, and its export of liquorice-root. 
I shall never forget a remark made by a German 



30 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

who had been told that this was the traditional place 
where Jonah was thrown from the whale. This 
German, after seeing the place, remarked that he 
was sure nothing could get near the town without 
the smells making him sick, and he was quite ready 
to believe that this had been the fate of the whale ! 
On the steamer coming down from Constantinople 
I had formed the acquaintance of a Turkish Pasha, 
who, with his attendants, was on his way to Bag- 
dad, where he had been appointed Governor-Gen- 
eral. He was going first to Aleppo, and he 
graciously asked me to join him. Being new in the 
country and not knowing the ways of the Oriental, 
I gladly accepted his hospitable offer and became 
one of his party. When we were ready to start next 
morning, the rain of the day before had ceased and 
the sun was shining bright and warm. He being an 
official of high rank, the attention shown him at this 
little port was marked. A number of cavalry were 
detailed to escort us to the next military post, and a 
brass band was ordered to play us out of town! 
You can easily imagine what a striking picture our 
company formed out on that great military road 
which leads into the interior; the Governor riding 
alone in his carriage, then his attending physician 
and myself on horseback, some scribes and mounted 
police, all followed by a load of the Governor's 
wives, who were consigned to a common jolt wag- 
gon, with a tight-fitting top buckled snugly down. 
The distance I was expecting to accompany His 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 31 

Excellency was about a hundred and twenty-five 
miles. After starting, we were told that the journey 
would require ten days ! Notwithstanding the dis- 
play of attention at each place we entered, and the 
graciousness of the Governor, I gave myself im- 
mediately to devising plans by which I could get 
away from the retinue without giving offence. 

An experience the first night hastened my purpose 
to get away. We left the coast an hour before noon, 
and just at sundown we stopped at an inn for the 
night. Here I was compelled to share a room with 
a Turkish merchant who had been up to Constanti- 
nople to buy goods, and although he was a dealer 
in drygoods, I soon discovered that he had with 
him also a good supply of wet goods, in the form 
of American whiskey and French brandy. After a 
sleepless night, due to this man's constant speaking 
in an unknown tongue, he assured me that he would 
be my friend until death, as well as my travelling 
companion up to Aleppo. This declaration of his 
affection was the last straw, and so, at noon that 
day, I told the Governor that if he would excuse 
me I would take a man who knew the road and 
with hired horses push through as quickly as pos- 
sible. With true Oriental politeness he expressed 
his regret at this decision, but insisted that I recon- 
sider the matter and remain with them. Through 
an interpreter, he told me that the road over which 
I was going was infested with robbers. I might 
have reconsidered my proposed plan of going on 



82 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

alone had not visions of another night with the 
drunken merchant risen up before me; so I 
motioned for the muleteer to bring up his animals 
and we bade farewell to our friends and started on 
alone. 

We here left the military road for a much shorter 
one across the mountain, and had gone but a 
short distance when the rain came down in tor- 
rents, making the already muddy road almost im- 
passable. In an hour and a half the Orontes River 
was reached and found to be much swollen from the 
heavy rains and melting snows. We pushed our 
horses through the deep, swift current, and by the 
middle of the afternoon the mountains were 
entered, the storm every moment becoming more 
severe. In the higher altitude the rain became sleet 
and snow. As the sun went down, we came to an 
Arab village and were delighted to find a comfort- 
able room in the village master's home, heated by a 
great wood-fire. A palatable dinner was served of 
meat, rice, bread, and coffee. Early the next morn- 
ing found us again in our saddles pushing on as 
rapidly as possible. Towards noon we began to 
meet large numbers of caravans, and I was led to 
think we were approaching the city. Soon we 
reached the top of a range of hills, and stretching 
out before us lay the plain of Aleppo, with its many 
gardens, and the city with its towering Roman 
Castle in the distance. At the American mission 
there, I found my escort for the remainder of the 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 33 

journey awaiting me. Some days later, the Gov- 
ernor came in amid the firing of cannon and the 
noise of several brass bands, but the merchant with 
whom I had shared the room in the inn I never saw 
again. 

A caravan journey across the plains of Asia 
Minor is much like a voyage at sea; the same 
duties are performed each day until they become 
monotonous, and much the same sights are seen. 
We had delightful visits with friends in Urfa, 
Diabekir, and Mardin, but at other times we went 
on and on, day after day, without any special inci- 
dents occurring until the Tigris was crossed and we 
were safely landed with our colleague, the Rev. 
Mr. McDowell, at a small village on the upper 
Tigris. 

Together we entered the mountains, and my 
medical work began. My colleague being detained 
in one of the villages, I pushed on to the bedside of 
a friendly chief, some sixty miles away, who was 
seriously ill. The journey was a very hard one, and 
it was also difficult to find any sort of food. I 
reached the patient in time to be of service to him, 
but the fever that I had contracted on the road 
increased day by day and later developed all the 
symptoms of cholera. I found the stuffy native 
houses intolerable, and was carried out into a garden 
near a cooling stream and left there. I have little 
recollection of what happened on the following 
days ; all that I desired was to be let alone, and this 



34 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

seemed to be the one thing that the native people 
were unwilling to do. The messenger sent to in- 
form my companion of my illness was slow in reach- 
ing him, but when he did receive my letter he made 
all haste in coming to where I was. Under his kind 
care, I was, in due time, ready to continue our 
journey into the mountains. 

We had not gone far, however, until it became 
evident that I needed a somewhat prolonged rest, 
and as Mr. McDowell's home at that time was in 
Urumia, we decided to cross the mountains and 
spend the summer, or part of it, there. The dis- 
tance was about two hundred miles and took us 
through the wildest and roughest portions of Kur- 
distan. The scenery is as grand as any in the world 
perhaps, and much of the way there are no roads, 
only a foot-path. We made much of the journey 
on foot, which after my severe illness I naturally 
found somewhat trying, but we got on very nicely 
until the end of the first week. I was glad enough, 
however, when Saturday night found us in a Nes- 
torian village that appeared to me, new to the coun- 
try, quiet and peaceful, where we were to spend 
Sunday. 

This valley of T'Khoma is more like a ravine 
or gorge, the mountains rising on either side 
thousands of feet, like great walls. Although 
the people are nominally Christians, they are 
known all over the mountains as brigands and 
bandits. Two years before, they had stripped a 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 35 

Colonel Bell of the Indian Army, who was passing 
through that region, and a little later a French monk 
had suffered all but torture at their hands. We also 
learned that caravans went miles out of their way 
to escape these notorious robbers. As we had 
arranged to spend Sunday there, not knowing the 
character of the people, we thought the best thing 
to do was to carry out our plans and take the conse- 
quences. To run away on Sunday morning would 
have been unwise as well as useless, for we had 
hardly reached the place until plans had been made 
to rob us. 

All day Sunday we kept open house and many 
came to see us, including those who were on the 
following day to rob us. Robbery and plunder were 
in the air, and it was evident that we were to be the 
victims. Fortunately, we had with us some trusty 
men, and to the bravest we gave our watches and 
most of our money, with the understanding that 
when we went to bed he was to escape from the 
valley and make his way on to Urumia, one hundred 
miles distant. We never knew when he left us, for 
we did not see him until days after, when our effects 
were safely returned to us by him. 

We put our beds that night out on the roof, and, 
notwithstanding the impending trouble, we slept 
well. While the stars were yet shining we ate our 
breakfast, loaded our belongings on some hired 
mules, and, threading a crooked, narrow street, at 
daylight emerged from the town. There was a little 



36 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

patch of green just outside the village, and gathered 
there were a number of our callers of the day 
before, with a lot of as rough-looking savages as I 
have ever seen. 

An Oriental is nearly always dignified, and 
these men, notwithstanding their rough exteriors, 
were no exception to the rule. The leader quietly 
stepped forward and seized the bridle of the 
first animal in the caravan, while his men un- 
loaded everything and carried it away, then the 
second, the third, and so on, until everything disap- 
peared. We were told to sit down on some rocks 
nearby, and we, with an equal amount of dignity, 
did as we were commanded. There was nothing 
that day like the war-whoop of the North American 
Indian. Everything was done decently and in 
order. We were told that it would be safer for us 
to go back to our rooms, and again we obeyed. 
Later, however, we sought the shelter of a cave on 
the side of the mountain, and there spent the day 
roasting eggs and mushrooms. Late in the evening, 
a messenger came and told us that no money had 
been found in our goods, and that it was money they 
wanted. The messenger said if we would arrange 
to pay a large fee, the goods would be returned to 
us. We had no idea of paying this fee at any time, 
for we knew that just as soon as they had our 
money they would again seize our goods. We went, 
however, with the man who had come to us with 
their message to the church, where the robbers had 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 37 

their headquarters. We found most of them more 
or less under the influence of liquor, and after a 
prolonged palaver, during which we were told that 
we were " the best fellows in the world," we re- 
turned to the house where we had spent the night 
before. One or two came to call again and deplored 
the meanness of their neighbours, and at the same 
time many of our things were in the possession of 
these same men. We served them with tea, and, as 
the photographer would say, looked pleasant. But 
down deep in our hearts we wondered if we would 
not be held for ransom. 

The road for retreat was securely closed against 
us; while, in front of us, bands of men slept 
under the stars awaiting our coming. The ques- 
tion that troubled them was what we had done 
with our watches that they had seen and the money 
that they knew we must have had for our travelling 
expenses. Until that question was settled, they still 
had business with us. They found it hard to believe 
that we could have trusted even one of our men with 
these things. After a sleepless night on the floor 
in the house in which we had spent the two previous 
ones, we arose early and started on foot down the 
same crooked street that we had gone on the 
previous day. We were again met at the edge of 
the village by a band of men, this time not the 
dignified men of the day before, but a crowd of 
young men and boys. We were commanded to 
hand over our money and watches, or tell what we 



38 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

had done with them. When we told them that we 
had sent them away, and that we had only the 
clothing that we had on, they became very angry 
and attacked us with clubs, and no doubt would have 
done us great bodily harm had there not been two 
factions in the mob. We soon saw that these two 
factions were extremely jealous of one another, and, 
by appealing first to one crowd and then to the 
other, we succeeded in passing the village. A mile 
or two above the village is a bridge, and at this 
bridge we found a band of villains awaiting us, and 
again we were held up and searched. Finding that 
we had nothing, we would have been let go had 
not a few of the men from the village who had fol- 
lowed us come up. They insisted that we had 
money hid somewhere in our clothing, and they 
began to fight vigorously, when we called the leader 
of the gang that had waited for us at the bridge to 
one side, and told him that if he would give the 
village men a good thrashing, we would see that he 
was well paid for it. He accepted the offer and the 
melee began. While this was going on, we made 
fast time up the valley ! 

The affair would have ended there had not 
another gang been waiting to intercept us at 
the mouth of the gorge. We were then pos- 
sibly five or six miles from the village. This 
last band was more determined than the others, and, 
to our dismay, it was soon joined by some of the 
more vicious element from the village. They took 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 39 

my companion up on the mountain side, as we both 
thought, to murder him. I followed close behind, 
and seeing a young fellow ready to strike the fatal 
blow, I could not resist the opportunity to strike one 
blow in defence of our lives, so taking a good-sized 
stone, I felled the would-be murderer. Just then, 
some one struck me a fearful blow on the head, 
which rendered me unconscious for a few minutes. 
When I came to myself the robbers were gone, and 
so was most of my clothing. I was told that when 
I thr§w the stone that probably saved the life of 
my companion, they let him go and attacked me. 
A native woman, the wife of one of the Protestant 
pastors, who was there, rushed forward and threw 
herself between the robbers and me, and thus saved 
my life. In the struggle that followed, most of my 
clothing was torn from me. This appeared a mere 
trifle, however, when we realised that we had 
escaped from this death-trap with our lives. There 
is a superstition among these wild tribes that, when 
a woman appeals in this manner for the life of a 
victim, the appeal must be heeded. I think, too, that 
the bandits became convinced that we had told them 
the truth about our having no money. 

The road that day lay over miles of snow and ice, 
and to keep from succumbing to the severe weather 
I secured a coat from a shepherd whom we found in 
the mountains with his flocks. The coat afforded 
protection from the cold rain that had set in, but it 
was alive with all manner of creeping things, and it 



40 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

was with not a little joy that we reached the home of 
a poor but friendly Kurd, just as the sun went 
down. For our dinner that night we had a little 
stale bread and roasted mushrooms. We arose early 
the next morning and pushed on six miles farther to 
the home of a pastor of one of the Protestant 
churches. Under his hospitable roof we spent a 
week, and I shall never forget the plain, but clean 
and wholesome, food that his good wife had pre- 
pared for us. 

Another thing that added cheer to our hearts was 
the unexpected visit one morning from a young man 
who had taken an active part in the robbery the 
first day that we were attacked. He introduced 
himself by saying that he had spent a short time in 
the mission school in Urumia, but since his return 
to the wilds of the mountains he had fallen into bad 
habits, and had gone on the road robbing caravans. 
He said that he knew that we were to be robbed, but 
that he was powerless to prevent it, so he secured the 
help of his relatives and they had taken many 
of our things that he would return to us. He said 
he had not forgotten what the Americans had done 
for him, and he would make his words good by 
delivering our effects. The next day our trunks 
came in, somewhat damaged, but they were most 
welcome. We sent back to our fighting friend his 
well-earned present. In due time we reached 
Urumia, later continuing our journey to Tabriz, 
stopping for some weeks in Salmas en route. 




A KURDISH WOMAN. 

The women of the hills do not wear veils. 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 41 

In October, in company with my colleague, the 
Rev. E. W. McDowell, and a Nestorian medical 
assistant, we left Urumia for a year in Kurdistan, 
going via Ravandooz and Mosul. After crossing 
the Turkish frontier, we learned that cholera had 
appeared in Ravandooz and the region beyond, and 
that quarantine would soon stop all travel. We 
therefore hastened on, hoping to reach Mosul before 
word came from Constantinople to establish the 
quarantine, for a Turkish quarantine is something 
to avoid if possible. As we approached the Zab 
River, one day out from Mosul, we saw on the 
opposite bank of the river the long line of tents that 
told us that the roads were closed to travel. We 
stopped on the east bank of the river and sent a 
message over to the physician in charge, asking per- 
mission to pass the guard, on the ground that I was 
a physician ready for service in case of an epidemic. 
This request had to go to Mosul, and before the 
reply came back, my medical assistant contracted the 
disease, and, though in a light form, his illness de- 
tained us more than two weeks. By the time that 
he was ready to travel, the epidemic having reached 
Mosul, all quarantines were removed and we 
pushed on into the city. 

The trip from Urumia to Mosul can be made 
easily in ten days by caravan, but we were thirty 
long days on the road. The scenery on a portion of 
the road, especially after passing Ravandooz, is 
fine. When we reached Mosul, we found that the 



42 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

permit for us to pass the quarantine had been issued 
by the Governor, but with the delay that marks 
everything in that land it had not been sent. We 
called, however, on the Governor, who was very 
gracious and assured me that my services as a 
physician would be in demand. In this he was not 
mistaken, for both my assistant and I soon had 
more than we could do, and we made a good many 
friends that afterwards proved of value to us. The 
epidemic was severe enough, but it was nothing 
compared with the epidemics that I have since seen 
in Teheran. 

Mosul is built on the west bank of the Tigris, just 
opposite the site of ancient Nineveh. When I was 
there, it had a population of about seventy thousand, 
twenty-five thousand being Christians, the remain- 
der being Arabs, Kurds, and Turks. The climate 
is very hot, and a long row of graves of mission- 
aries, out on a hill overlooking the river, shows 
clearly that it is no place for Americans to live. I 
spent a portion of two winters there and found the 
climate at that season very delightful, but was told 
that the summers were so unbearably hot that even 
the natives were compelled to spend the days in the 
cellars, and the nights on the roofs. The country 
about the town is very fertile, and grain can be 
grown without irrigation, as the winters are warm, 
with an abundance of rain. I remember that we 
had a reasonable supply of fruit and an abundance 
of fine vegetables. When the Germans extend their 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 43 

railroad through the region, the country will, I feel 
sure, take on new life, while immense quantities of 
wheat will be grown. Were canals reconstructed 
and water furnished for agriculture, almost every- 
thing could be grown. Europeans living there could 
spend the hottest part of the summer out in the hills, 
a few hours away. The city, as it is now, is cer- 
tainly no place for Europeans in summer. How- 
ever, if proper houses were built, it would be more 
healthful than Bagdad, which is perhaps not saying 
very much. 

There is no system of drainage in Mosul, and 
nearly every little courtyard has a cistern into 
which the refuse is thrown. The drinking water is 
taken from the river and rendered potable by an 
ingenious filter, constructed from clay in the shape 
of the ordinary wine receptacle. The potter, while 
the clay is soft, works a little salt into the bottom 
of the jar and after burning, when the water is put 
into it, the salt is dissolved, leaving minute holes 
through which the water percolates. This is the 
method, no doubt, that was used by the inhabitants 
of Nineveh. I have seen the vilest water taken from 
ponds where animals had been standing and ren- 
dered beautifully clear by this perfect filter, 
although, of course, the microbes cannot be removed 
by any sort of a filter. 

The bazaars of Mosul are insignificant when com- 
pared with those in Teheran, Tabriz, or Constanti- 
nople. Yet a very considerable volume of trade is 



44 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

carried on between these, as it is the outlet for all 
trade with lower Turkish Kurdistan and Bagdad. 
The Tigris might be navigable as far as Mosul if 
the river could be cleared of a few obstructions. 
Steamers have come up that far during periods of 
high water. But the usual communication is by 
means of curiously constructed rafts, which are 
made by inflating a hundred goat-skins and lashing 
these balloons together with willow branches and 
string. On the top of this are placed poles, which 
form a sort of a deck, on the top of which is placed 
a little room made from poles and covered with 
native cloth. The writer once made this journey in 
company with Dr. Budge, of the British Museum, 
who was on his way to Babylonia. The journey 
down requires only a few days, and is made with 
great comfort in the winter time. As the river was 
low when we made the trip, we were obliged to tie 
up the raft at night. It was necessary to keep a fire 
on the bank close by because of the jackals which 
came very near to us, making a strange noise, half 
that of the human voice and half that of the hyena. 
Sometimes one felt almost certain that it was a 
human being in great distress, but a few steps away 
from the fire would reveal the very eyes of the crea- 
ture in the darkness. Europeans living throughout 
the East have learned to bury their dead very deeply, 
for these hyenas often burrow into graves and 
devour the remains. 

There is also fine duck-shooting during the winter 



BANDITS AND BRIGANDS 45 

and spring months, and we were able to bag a good 
many on the way down. Very little food can be 
obtained on the river except at Tekrit, the birth- 
place of the celebrated Saladin. All rafts are com- 
pelled to stop here and pay a tax, which often 
amounts to blackmail. Dr. Budge had been fired 
upon, on a previous trip, by the Arabs, and we were 
glad when we were allowed to go with the usual haj 
or tax. The journey on to Bagdad was without 
incident, while the return was made on post horses 
via Kerkook. 

As one looks out on the broad plain of the lower 
Tigris, it is not hard to understand the great ma- 
terial prosperity that once blest the entire valley, 
many hundreds of miles long. The Arab farmer 
has only to scratch the surface of the soil and his 
seed is returned to him within a few months a hun- 
dred-fold. One also can fancy the great cities of 
Nineveh and Babylon, with a hundred smaller places 
between, being supported by the toiling peasants 
and serfs ; but it is not so easy to associate the great 
minds that planned and built these historic places 
with the present-day inhabitants of the country. 
But the Orient is full of the unfathomable. 



Ill 

CONDITIONS OF LIFE ALONG THE 
TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 

IT was late in December before the cholera had 
abated sufficiently for me to leave Mosul for 
the hills. Although the snows had covered 
the mountains and filled many of the passes I pushed 
on and joined Mr. McDowell, who had left Mosul a 
month before. I had with me a large supply of 
drugs and a good surgical equipment, and I looked 
forward to a fine winter's work. We sometimes 
hear in America of an " unopposed " practice, but 
the one I was entering would have been willingly 
shared by me with a dozen colleagues, for Kurdis- 
tan, with over two million inhabitants, had not then 
a single medical man. 

As we crossed the Tigris on the bridge of boats 
and rode through Koyunjik, the mounds that mark 
the site of the palace of Sennacherib in ancient 
Nineveh, our caravan consisted of a guide, a serv- 
ant, a dispenser, and the muleteer whose animals 
we had engaged. Late in the evening of the second 
day we rode into the village of Elkosh, which once 
had been the home of the prophet Nahum. I think 
there can be little doubt that this was the place 

46 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 47 

where the prophecies of Nahum were written. It 
is situated some forty or fifty miles from Nineveh, 
and was, in its early history, no doubt much larger 
and more important as a social and commercial 
community. It is not unlikely that the heat of 
Nineveh drove thousands of its people to the near-by 
hills, and Elkosh was one of the most convenient 
points where food and houses could be obtained. 

The dwellers on the hot plains to-day find very 
trying the change between night and day in a high 
altitude among the snow-fields. Indeed, I have ob- 
served many times serious illnesses among the peo- 
ple who suddenly had changed their place of abode 
from the burning plain to the cold regions in the 
mountains. And so Elkosh, being in the foothills, 
was probably to Nineveh what Brighton is to 
London or Newport is to New York. No doubt 
this preacher of unpleasant things was stirred by 
the wickedness which he saw on every hand, and 
his sermons have made historic the otherwise in- 
significant native town. 

When we were there, we were taken into the 
little synagogue and there shown a scroll which was 
said to have been Nahum's. Of course, this was 
quite impossible, but that it was the same synagogue 
repaired and rebuilt many times, I consider quite 
probable. Formerly, the town had been a Turkish 
governmental post, as neg^-by was the centre of a 
large community of Yezidees, or Devil- Worship- 
pers. When I was there, the seat of government 



48 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

had been transferred to Dihook, while the Yezidees, 
or Devil- Worshippers, were being looked after by 
a special commission from Constantinople, whose 
professed purpose was to convert them to Moham- 
medanism. 

As soon as I joined Mr. McDowell in the district 
of Supna, we pushed on to Tiary, and there opened 
a dispensary and hospital. The people we found 
living as they did centuries ago, many never having 
been beyond the narrow limits of the valley in which 
they had been born. And yet they had retained 
much of the training and character of their ances- 
tors. This was particularly true of the Nestorians, 
who had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and 
for schools, a characteristic of their forefathers of 
Nisibis, clearly demonstrating the stability of edu- 
cation and civilisation. On the other hand, I saw 
little indication of any desire on the part of the 
Kurds for any sort of learning, but they had no 
Christian ancestry back of them. The homes of 
the common people are in hamlets, these small vil- 
lages often being but a short distance apart, the 
houses being built of roughly cut stones. They are 
usually two stories in height, the lower story being 
used in winter for the sheep and cattle as well as 
for the family, and the upper one, which is gen- 
erally open on two sides, is occupied in summer by 
the family. In some places the mosquitoes and fleas 
are so bad that these open rooms are abandoned 
for booths erected on a platform supported by tall 



TURCO- PERSIAN FRONTIER 49 

poles, the wind having the opportunity to blow the 
mosquitoes away. 

The furnishings of the ordinary home in this 
remote region are necessarily extremely simple; a 
few mats, possibly a rug, together with some large 
pieces of native felt, some earthen cooking vessels 
and primitive firearms make up the list. I must, 
however, add a large knife, which is worn by all 
who can afford one, in their belts. The men wear 
their hair long and plaited down the back, and 
amuse themselves as they go about the village 
knitting stockings and woollen shoes. 

A son rarely leaves home permanently for any 
reason. If he marries, the wife is brought to the 
common home of his father, and it is not unusual 
to find a half-dozen families living under one roof, 
sometimes two or three families in a single room. 
Marriages are contracted at an early age and the* 
young wife is called a bride until her mother-in- 
law dies. The lot of the so-called bride is not 
usually a very happy one, for she must perform 
the most menial duties of the household. Long 
before it is light she must rise and go out on the 
mountain in search of the day's fuel. Upon her 
return she must prepare the morning meal, and 
when this is over she cleans the stables, mixing the 
manure with straw; then moulding it with her hands 
she places it in the sun to dry, to be burned for 
fuel in the long winter days when the mountains 
are covered with heavy snows. She is never 



50 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

allowed to speak in the presence of her father-in- 
law. I once remember asking a young boy how 
many children his parents had and was surprised 
to be told only one. I then remarked that I had 
seen several in his home and asked who they were. 
The reply came very sarcastically, " Oh, they are 
girls and do not count ! " I once saw a man, upon 
reaching a hill, take a heavy bag off his donkey, 
give it to his wife to carry up the hill, and mount 
the burro, riding himself to the top. 

Marriages are always arranged by the parents, 
the father of the groom making a liberal present 
to the bride's father. Currency being often un- 
known in the region, gifts of food and other articles 
in the way of provisions are paid instead. A young 
student told me that his father, in securing his wife, 
had had to pay what he considered an exorbitant 
price, the present consisting of five sheep, two 
goats, a calf, and ten gallons of cooking oil. 
Divorce, however, is almost unknown. 

A wedding among the Kurds is not devoid of 
romance and chivalry. The groom's father gathers 
about him all his warriors and friends, a coat of 
many colours is brought out and placed on the 
youth, who heads the procession, and they all, 
heavily armed, proceed to the village or home of 
the bride. As they draw near, music begins, guns 
are fired, and the bride's father with his warriors 
rushes out to meet the friendly foe. A sham battle 
is fought, and after numerous repulses the groom, 




A KURDISH WEDDING DANCE. 




A PERSIAN GROCER. 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 51 

with his men, i$ allowed to rush in and steal the 
bride, carrying her away amid the confusion and 
roar of musketry. The part of the bride's father 
now is to rush after his daughter and persuade her 
to return to his home. She being unwilling to do 
this, there is nothing left but to invite the groom 
with all his warriors to the wedding feast. The 
night is spent in dancing and with music. At mid- 
night, horses are brought by a party of the groom's 
friends, and the bride, often a young girl hardly in 
her teens, is taken to her new home. 

Western medicine to these simple people is an 
enigma, and they accredit a physician with un- 
limited power, for it was not unusual for them to 
bring to us patients who were supposed to have 
devils, their friends fully expecting us to be able 
to cast them out. No sooner was it noised about 
that there was a Western physician in the region, 
than we were overrun with patients. From early in 
the morning until late at night we dispensed drugs, 
and gave them such advice and counsel as we could. 
Many came simply, as they said, to " pour their 
peace " upon us and assure us of a hearty wel- 
come. In entering the room they always follow 
their usual custom of removing their shoes, but 
keeping on their hats, and with a salutation, 
" Peace to you," they would take a seat upon the 
floor. Frequently they would crowd into our bed- 
rooms to see how we got into our clothing. I 
have never seen a people so given up to the use 



52 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

of tobacco, and the pipe is enjoyed by all the men 
and by many of the women. In these high altitudes 
it is often an exciting cause of asthma. 

There is a class, however, toward whom one sus- 
tains quite different relations from what one does 
to the simple people of the lower classes. I refer 
to the sheikhs or chiefs of the various clans. With- 
out exception, I found them very suspicious of all 
foreigners, and they often told me that it was be- 
yond their comprehension to conceive how one 
could leave his home and native land without hope 
of some pecuniary gain. They usually closed such 
conversations by plainly asking us if we were not 
political agents of our government, and often we 
had trouble in convincing them that we were 
not. 

The common ground on which we could always 
meet was that of medicine, and this sometimes 
seemed strange to me, because they knew that many 
European drugs are poison. But I think that our 
surgical work aided more to win favour than any- 
thing else. I recall one poor young man who had 
suffered for fourteen years with a most painful 
illness that was quickly relieved by a surgical oper- 
ation. I remember, too, how the poor mother who 
had nursed him most tenderly all these years was 
almost overcome with joy when she realised that 
her son was to be well and strong again. 

My colleague and I were at once sent for by a 
chief of an adjoining district, to pay him an official 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 53 

visit. Guests thus sent for by these chiefs are 
usually quite safe, and are not infrequently shown 
special honour and favour. This man lived in a 
rather large building, it might be called a castle, 
high up on the mountain, and was known far and 
near as a man of influence and power among the 
tribesmen. Almost within a day's notice he could 
raise an army, lock every mountain pass in the dis- 
trict, stop all travel, and hold complete control. Al- 
though his district was in Turkish territory, the 
Turkish government exercised but a loose and 
nominal control throughout the region. Indeed, 
throughout all Kurdistan the Turks are treated 
largely as guests. As long as they behave them- 
selves, they are shown considerable respect, but 
they are only able to exercise authority through the 
chiefs, such, for example, as our host. The au- 
thority of the Turks is even less in the valleys of 
the mountain Nestorians. The story was told us 
once of a tax-gatherer who visited the chief man 
in a Nestorian village in Tiary for the purpose of 
making a new assessment for the governor of 
Amidia. The district had been reported to him as 
one of the most lawless in East Turkey, He was 
hardly prepared to be cordially received, and after 
having stated to the village master the purpose of 
his visit, he was invited to stay for the midday 
meal, and with delight accepted. After luncheon 
the coffee was served, which contained an opiate. 
While asleep, he was sewed up in a large piece 



54 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

of felt, upon which he was sleeping, and cast into 
the river. 

As my colleague and I approached the castle of 
the chief of Berwer, he came out with a large 
escort to greet us. Drawing near, he being on foot, 
we dismounted from our horses and received a very 
cordial greeting and were escorted immediately into 
the guest chamber, which was also used as a gen- 
eral reception room. At the further end of this 
large room glowed a warm and cheery fire, made 
of logs and wood in a great fireplace, with a 
tremendously large chimney. These chimneys are 
sometimes used as a means of escape, when the 
castle is attacked. The doors were ponderous 
things, with great heavy locks and hinges, while 
the walls and ceilings were covered with a yellow- 
coloured plaster. On the walls hung rifles, made 
in New England, also swords and daggers, which 
bore an Oriental stamp. The evening meal was 
at once served by the attendants, although the son, 
in honour of his father's guests, assisted. There 
were no chairs in the place, and we sat on the floor 
in two rows, the dinner being served also on the 
floor, the tablecloth being a piece of coarse native 
muslin. The meal, which consisted largely of rice 
and mutton cooked in various ways, dried fruits 
such as apricots, peaches, and raisins, together with 
the products of the dairy, was eaten by us with 
much relish after our all-day march through the 
snow, notwithstanding the fact that the servant had 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 55 

stepped many times upon the tablecloth with his 
shoeless feet, while bringing in the food. 

After our evening meal, the chief gave us a bit 
of his history, while we told him something of 
America. He belonged to a family which had es- 
tablished its authority by defeating some of the 
more powerful chiefs and deposing them. His 
father was one of the most cruel men the region 
has ever produced. His son, our host, told us of 
a raid made by him upon a neighbouring tribe, in 
one of the villages of which he either drove away 
or killed every inhabitant save a young woman 
whom he captured and was taking home for his 
harem. The road back to his castle lay across a 
deep, swift river on which was built a narrow foot- 
bridge. When in the middle of the bridge, the girl 
cried, " My friends and people are dead, and 
I shall die, too," and with one great leap she alighted 
far out in the stream, where she was soon drowned 
or killed by being dashed against the rocks with 
which the stream was filled. 

Our host had sent word to different parts of his 
district that a hakim or medical man would be there 
on that date, and the following day his castle 
was thronged with patients and so continued for 
three days, when we were compelled to leave. He 
has ever since remained a staunch friend, and later 
desired his son to enter our school and prepare for 
the study of medicine. 

The friendliness of this chief toward us was in 



56 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

striking contrast to that of the Agha or chief of 
Sharnooch. This gentleman had the distinction of 
living on one of the many mountains that, tradition 
says, marked the resting-place of the Ark. So he 
called his hamlet Sharnooch, or City of Noah. We 
were spending the heated months of summer at the 
little village of Hasanna, in Bohtan, not very far 
from this man's castle. Desiring to keep on terms 
with him, I paid him a visit after several invitations. 
On the day appointed for my journey up the hill 
to his place, a distance of perhaps twenty miles, 
through groves of scrub oak, he sent horses to take 
me there. My reception was not less cordial than 
at the castle of Berwer, and the days swiftly passed. 
I had brought with me my tent and w r as furnished 
a guard as a sign to indicate to roving bands on 
the mountain that I was under the Agha's protec- 
tion. Here, as in other places, great crowds came 
from all the neighbouring villages to consult the 
Hakim Sahib, or doctor. 

After having spent more than two weeks there 
as the Agha's guest, I asked for permission to go. 
He replied that his horses had all been sent down on 
the plain to bring up grain for his animals. I 
waited patiently for a few days and again went to 
him, only to be met with another excuse for not 
letting me go. I then learned that he was debating 
the question of holding me as hostage, hoping for 
a large sum as ransom! Realising this, I at once 
took active measures to impress upon him what 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 57 

vengeance would be dealt out to him ultimately in 
case he did not let me depart. He took the matter 
under consideration, and, toward evening, one of 
his men came to the tent and told me that horses 
would be ready the next morning for my transport 
back to Hasanna. This friendly Kurd said that 
the Agha found it difficult to keep me after having 
invited me as his guest, without violating an Orien- 
tal unwritten law that makes a guest always safe, 
and also that the people had been favourably in- 
fluenced by the medical work I had done for them. 
The treatment given to certain of his advisers had 
been successful, and these men had objected to hold- 
ing me as hostage, although they had urged me to 
locate there permanently. 

When I went that evening to call on the Agha 
and say good-bye, I found him in a very bad 
humour, and it was evident that my going was not 
to his liking. It struck me that he was like a cat 
that had to give up a mouse before he had had the 
pleasure of killing it, and I was not quite sure 
what the morrow would bring forth. But we were 
not disappointed, and before noon the next day we 
were safe in the camp of our friends in the gardens 
near Hasanna. But our troubles were not all 
ended, for a few days later there came a message 
from the Agha warning us to leave the village. As 
the village was not in his jurisdiction, but under the 
Turkish governmental post at Jezerah, and as our 
rights as American citizens were defined by treaty 



58 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

with Turkey, we decided to stick to our post of 
duty and take the consequences. 

Mrs. McDowell bravely went with her children 
into the village, where her husband found shelter for 
her in the home of a Protestant pastor. We gathered 
about us the most trusty men we could, with which 
to guard our camp and belongings ; at the same time 
we wrote a letter to him politely but firmly pointing 
out our rights as American citizens to reside and 
travel throughout the domain of the Sultan. The mes- 
senger who carried our letter to the Agha reported 
that the latter was determined to drive us from the 
country, since his plans for a large ransom had 
failed. Indeed, he said that when the Agha read 
the letter from us he was furious, and with an oath 
declared that within twenty-four hours he would 
be down upon us and destroy our camp. But hav- 
ing been committed to the plan of " standing pat," 
we concluded not to change our programme, al- 
though I must confess for my part that I was not 
a little apprehensive as to the result. All night long 
we kept vigil, some trusty men watching the gorge, 
a mile or two above the camp, ready to give the 
alarm in case the sound of horsemen was heard. 
But no one came from Shernooch until towards 
noon, when a peasant reported that everything had 
been ready for the attack, but the same friendly 
advice that had saved me from being held as hos- 
tage had prevented the raid upon us. But these 
same Kurds, in later years, have destroyed nearly 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 59 

all the Nestorian villages in Bohtan, not sparing 
even Hasanna with her gardens, the most pic- 
turesque and fertile of them all. 

To a Kurd, the killing of a Nestorian, or for that 
matter the destruction of a whole Nestorian com- 
munity, is a matter of little importance, and I re- 
gret to say that in some instances the Nestorian 
holds the same opinion about a Kurd and his be- 
longings. Our remaining at Hasanna during that 
summer, and our refusal to be driven out by the 
Agha, saved the people for a long time from de- 
struction. They were a good people, and had never 
given their government any trouble, although their 
taxes often mounted to half the product of their 
fields and flocks. 

Although the village is gone, its influence con- 
tinues, for one of the boys who carried a gun on the 
night of our expected attack is now an honoured 
doctor, treating and curing these same Kurds who 
inflicted such terrible and undeserved punishment 
upon the village of his boyhood. Even among this 
wild people the matchless parable of the good 
Samaritan has served to interpret the true meaning 
of the Golden Rule. Several others have also 
gained a knowledge of Western medicine and have 
returned to become a blessing to their people. Not 
a few teachers trained in the American school at 
Urumia are rendering a service of incalculable 
value in the Kurdish mountains, where, under the 
most trying circumstances, they are teaching not 



60 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

only spelling and arithmetic, but the value of hon- 
esty and truth, and that " Peace hath her victories 
as well as War." 

After matters had quieted down at Hasanna, I 
left my American friends there, returning to Uru- 
mia via Mosul and Ravandooz, to meet my cousin, 
Mr. Luther D. Wishard, and his wife, and Mr. 
W. H. Grant, all of New York, who were making 
a tour of inspection of the missions in Asia, the for- 
mer in the interests of the Young Men's Christian 
Associations in colleges. On the road between 
Mosul and Ravandooz our chavador lost the road 
and took us miles out of the way. Being early in 
September, the sun was frightfully hot on that great 
plain. Fearing a sunstroke, we stopped at a miser- 
able mud village for the remainder of the day, where 
we secured a guide who piloted us back to the right 
road. Near Ravandooz, the road enters a great 
gorge of unsurpassed beauty. It may have been 
that after our experience of the day before, that 
caused us such a weary and useless march in the 
desert, this cool and green gorge, with its towering 
walls which shielded us from the burning rays of 
the sun, seemed more like Eden than it otherwise 
would have done. On the top of the hill, just before 
we got into the town, we met a man with a score or 
more of donkeys loaded with the most luscious 
grapes and bought enough for a good feast. 

Ravandooz, an old Kurdish fortress and town, is 
now held by the Turks and used by them to collect 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 61 

customs from caravans coming from Persia on that 
road. It was not my first visit there, for, a couple 
of years before, the Turkish officers had attempted 
to collect blackmail from us, thinking that we were 
strangers in the land. When they found that I 
had been properly licensed to practise medicine in 
Turkey, their whole attitude changed, and we were 
treated with the usual Oriental courtesy. 

We found the Turkish officers throughout this 
district as cruel and heartless as are their neighbours 
the Kurds. With a few notable exceptions, they were 
men who had been sent into the region as exiles, 
it having been deemed wise for political reasons 
to get them as far from the large centres in Turkey 
as possible. During a summer spent in Kurdistan, 
in company with the Rev. Dr. Coan, we had several 
unpleasant encounters with these officers, notwith- 
standing the fact that Dr. Coan was born in the 
country and knew the language perfectly. At one 
place, I remember, we were asked to show our pass- 
ports, which we did, the man refusing to return 
them without a present for himself over and above 
the usual tax. Instead of paying the blackmail, 
we overpowered the man, threw him to the ground, 
and took our papers from him. He then apologised 
for his conduct. A foreigner in East Turkey with- 
out a passport would be like a ship at sea without 
a compass. 

The attitude toward all Americans residing or 
travelling in Asiatic Turkey on the part of the gov- 



62 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ernment, would seem to be one of suspicion and 
distrust. I do not know that Americans travelling 
through the country are treated with less courtesy 
than other foreigners, although such a charge is 
not infrequently heard. But I do know by ex- 
perience that much more can be done by cultivating 
the friendship of local governors and influential 
personages throughout the country than through 
our diplomatic and consular officers. Of course, 
extreme cases, such for instance as the unpro- 
voked attack upon an American lady in Amidia, 
must be called to the attention of our representa- 
tives in Turkey, but it was our policy whenever pos- 
sible never to call upon the consular officers for help. 
A friendly and worthy consul or diplomatic officer 
may be of immense assistance to his countrymen 
sojourning in the East, and with one or two ex- 
ceptions the men we had in Turkey, when I was 
there, were both competent and friendly. Nor were 
the Turks all unspeakable. I usually found the 
governors in the larger places cordial and appreci- 
ative. Those on the outposts of civilisation along 
the frontier are, as I have pointed out, another class 
of men. 

In Urumia, I met my cousin and his party and 
accompanied them on horseback to Kharput via 
Salmas, Van, and Bitlis. This route took us 
through the heart of Armenia just before the mas- 
sacres; indeed, the troubles had then begun, and 
many villages had been pillaged. While at Moosh 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 63 

we heard many stories of oppression, murder, arson, 
and crimes that are unmentionable. The storm 
clouds were then dark and rapidly gathering, and, 
a year later, we were not surprised to hear that 
this whole region had been visited by one of the 
foulest and crudest wars upon an innocent and sim- 
ple people the world has known since the days of 
Rome. It is not enough to plead, in defence of the 
Turkish government, that there was a revolution- 
ary party among the young Armenians. These 
were in the cities, and not among the simple 
farmers, with their wives, living in Moosh and 
Sassoon. A year later, I had a letter from one of 
the friends we made there which closed as follows : 
" At Derkevank I saw three women, refugees from 
Semal. One of them, with quivering lips, and, 
quietly weeping, said : ' I had two brothers and a 
son-in-law and other relatives killed/ All the women 
said that 'the black soldiers' (alluding to the 
dark uniform of the regular soldiers) attacked and 
slew by bayonet a large number of people. They 
added that protection was offered the women and 
children on condition that they would adopt the 
Moslem faith, but they said, ' rather than do this 
we risked our lives and fled/ After hiding in the 
shelter of rocks for a number of days, they were 
able to make their escape. At Havodoric, a man, 
by the name of Toros, also from Semal, told me 
that his son, a brother, a niece and sister, were 
killed in the massacre. He stated that after five 



64 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

days of dire conflict he fled and hid for ten days 
among trees, subsisting in the meanwhile on the 
fruit of a kind of thistle. He stated that he helped 
to open a pit or trench, and removed and buried 
five bodies, one of which was the body of the priest 
Hohannas, who he said had met his death after 
severe and prolonged torture at the hands of the 
soldiers. He said : ' We wished to remove more 
bodies and bury them, but the stench of the decay- 
ing bodies was so great that we could not do it/ 
He added : ' At the time I buried my sister, I cut 
off her hair, and it is now in my mother's posses- 
sion/ Also, that when his brother was seized and 
hurried off by the soldiers, he took off his cap and 
threw it back to his mother with the words, ' They 
are going to kill me, keep this as a last remem- 
brance/ The man was cruelly murdered. A woman 
by the name of Rahan, formerly of Dalorig, 
now staying at Havodoric, said, ' Our family num- 
bered twelve, of whom five were killed. My hus- 
band, brother, and his son were hacked in pieces, 
my husband received a terrible wound and is now 
at St. Aghperig monastery. I saw them kill my 
brother's wife. A soldier took up a large stone and 
struck her head so violently that her brains were 
scattered and she fell down dead. When I saw 
this, and the others killed by the bayonet, I wept 
sorely and beat my head so that I am now blind/ 
The story of the Sassoon massacre can never be 
written; the fragments that we have heard, portions 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 65 

only of which are given in this imperfect narrative, 
are a true sample of what has taken place. Some 
of the most harrowing of the statements have come 
to us, having been told by the soldiers themselves, 
the narrators claiming to have been unwilling actors 
in the awful massacre, and aver that they now suf- 
fer intense mental torture at the memory of those 
deeds." 

The Turks, having begun this war upon the 
Christians, extended their pillage and arson into the 
larger places; even the homes and schools of our 
American hosts in Kharput were not spared, being 
burned before the eyes of their owners. It was a 
repetition of the scene at Nisibis, more than a 
thousand years before, and yet it was during the 
closing days of the nineteenth century ! 

At Kharput, after bidding my friends good-bye, 
I engaged animals and came to Diabekir, a place 
then of perhaps sixty thousand inhabitants, sur- 
rounded by a magnificent stone wall, well situated 
on a bluff on the Tigris. My host and hostess there 
were Mr. and Mrs. Boiajian. I spent several de- 
lightful days with them, he being the acting Eng- 
lish Vice-Consul at that time. When the massacres 
were extended to the West and South and the 
hordes of rabble from all over that part of Kurdis- 
tan attacked the city, the fact of the British flag 
flying over his gate did not save him. We heard 
upon our return to America that he had met with 
a cruel death at the hands of the Kurds. 



66 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

The following year the American Hospital in 
Teheran, having been partially finished, the writer 
was asked by his Board to become its director, and, 
after a short furlough in America, he proceeded to 
Teheran to take up his new duties. The work in 
Kurdistan has gone steadily forward, with some 
slight interruptions, under the able and self-sacrific- 
ing direction of Mr. McDowell, assisted by a staff of 
native doctors and teachers. 

Last year a letter from him to the Mission con- 
tained an account of the following unique experi- 
ence, which I am sure will interest every reader. 
The letter is as follows : " I left T'Khoma, Fri- 
day, Jan. 4, with an escort of over thirty men. I 
dismissed as many as possible on the mountain-side 
above Khani, a number, however, of their own ac- 
cord going on with me, as they had business of 
their own in Julamerk. At two in the afternoon, 
we reached the top of the mountain overlooking 
Tal, and in a few minutes began the descent. Nine- 
teen of us had just started, when there was an 
avalanche and the nineteen of us were hurled to 
the bottom of the mountain. One man was lost. 
Three others were buried, but were dug out unin- 
jured. One man had a shoulder dislocated. Aside 
from these casualties, there were no serious injuries 
to any of the party. My own injuries were con- 
fined to a bruised and sprained knee and the frac- 
ture of two ribs. 

" It was a terrible experience, and not easily de- 



TURCO- PERSIAN FRONTIER 67 

scribed. With Kasha Yukhanan, Rabi Nisan, and 
the Shada I was following the men who had opened 
the road. At the top, the mountain is so steep that 
I was unable to keep on my feet and had fallen and 
was still on my back, when there was a crash as the 
field of snow broke loose from its moorings. I had 
a flash-like glimpse of the whole side of the moun- 
tain in motion. Rabi Nisan cried out : ' Sahib 
tliklan' (we are lost). There was a sensation as 
though falling through space, a gale of wind struck 
us in the face, and a cloud of snow shut out the 
world. There was a succession of rapid wave-like 
motions, and then the snow began to break up. In 
spite of all my efforts to keep on the surface, I 
was drawn under, and the snow, like a torrent of 
water, surged over and around me. As helpless 
as a pebble in a flood, I was rolled and tumbled 
along inside the avalanche. I can recall several 
heavy jolts as though from falls. Once my body 
was bent forward on my legs until I thought my 
back was about to break. But finally all other sen- 
sations were lost in a struggle for breath, as my 
mouth filled up with snow. At what seemed to be 
the point of suffocation, there was a sudden slow- 
ing up of the motion of the avalanche, and I found 
myself lying on the surface of the snow. 

" Frantically, but with difficulty, I emptied my 
mouth of snow and recovered my breath. I think 
that I was on my feet before I did this, in instinctive 
desire to escape from peril. As I stood there, I looked 



68 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

up the mountain along the track of the avalanche, 
and I can describe my feeling only as one of fear 
and amazement as I saw the men who but a mo- 
ment before we had left standing on the top of the 
mountain still standing there against the clear sky 
but scarcely discernible as men, so great was the 
distance : and I had come that distance in less than 
two minutes. Kasha Yukhanan, on a previous trip, 
had timed himself by watch, and he said that it 
was two hours' fast walking from the point where 
I landed to the top of the avalanche. It was the 
opinion of all, including those who remained at the 
top, that the time occupied in our descent was not 
more than two minutes. I had come the farthest 
of the whole party. How it was that no more lives 
were lost, and especially that no bones were broken, 
was marvellous. The villagers regarded it simply 
as a miracle, as the proportion, according to all 
precedent, should have been the other way. As it 
is, with humble gratitude I acknowledge God's 
hand in our remarkable preservation. 

" When I arose to my feet I was swathed with 
snow from head to foot. The snow had been forced 
into my pockets and inside all my clothing. I was 
hatless, and my hair was matted with ice. The sun 
had set behind the mountain, and the icy wind raised 
by the avalanche was congealing me, when God's 
care was again manifest, for lying on the snow, not 
ten feet away, was my heavy overcoat. Shada had 
been carrying it, and he came out a long way above, 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 69 

but the overcoat had been brought down to me. I 
threw that over my head and got my blood into 
circulation and looked around for the others. There 
were two or three men near me, and, in answer to 
my inquiries, they said that all the others were lost. 
I then saw Rabi Nasan some distance above still 
shaking himself free from the snow, and I called 
to him with reference to the rest of the party and 
he answered to the same effect. Soon, however, 
others came down from above and brought more 
reassuring word. Kasha Yukhanan, Shada, and 
others had come out half a mile or more further 
up, and, under the direction of Kasha, they were 
busy rescuing those that were partly buried. The 
only sign of one man was his hand; only the elbow 
of a second man appeared, and a third man was 
found with just his foot sticking out. These were all 
dug out with some difficulty, and as it was thought 
that all were accounted for, they came down to the 
village. There on calling the roll it was found that 
one of the party was missing. 

There of the six men at the top of the mountain 
were porters. They were terrified and without wait- 
ing to learn the extent of the catastrophe had fled to 
T'Khoma, to report, we presumed, the loss of the 
whole party. The others, as soon as the air cleared, 
came down and joined the rescue party. All our 
loads were left on the mountain top, and along with 
the others I slept that night on the floor under the 
kursi, which was a blessing to be devoutly grateful 



70 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

for. Aside from drying our clothes, which were wet 
through, the heat, I presume, was the best possible 
treatment for our bruised and sprained bodies. 
There was not much sleeping that night, though 
the villagers did all in their power to make us 
comfortable. 

" The next morning we were able to limp around, 
though with many a groan, and as soon as possible 
a party of men from Rabbat, under the direction 
again of Kasha . Yukhanan, who did splendid 
service, was sent up to search for the missing man. 
Not a trace was found, though the snow was care- 
fully probed. He will probably not be found until 
spring. * A man was sent to T'Khoma to tell the 
truth and prevent a panic. Our loads were brought 
down, some of them having been dug out from 
under the snow, and on the evening of the same 
day, Saturday, we went down to Be Kuri. I hob- 
bled part of the way, and part of the way was 
carried pickaback by two strong young fellows, 
whom I hired to help me through to Julamerk." 

The reader's attention is called to the interesting 
fact that T'Khoma is the district where we were 
robbed some years before, as narrated in the pre- 
vious chapter. While there is much yet to be de- 
sired in the lives of the people, it is worthy of notice 
here that the missionary is a welcome guest among 
them. Also that the boy who returned our stolen 
possessions has since become the village school- 
master. 



TURCO-PERSIAN FRONTIER 71 

And stranger still is the news from Constanti- 
nople that has come while these pages are being 
written, telling that the Sultan has granted a con- 
stitution and that a Parliament will be inaugurated. 
One thing is sure, and that is that no people can 
understand the meaning of liberty until it is dis- 
ciplined by education and training. A half-bar- 
baric land like Kurdistan is hardly the place for 
popular government, notwithstanding the progress 
made. On the other hand, it is a great step forward 
when Turkey as a whole declares in favour of even 
nominal constitutionalism. 

The American missionaries in Turkey have taken 
no part in politics, their mission being strictly along 
social, philanthropic, and spiritual lines; but it is 
pretty safe to say that when that government is 
ready for competent men with honest purposes, the 
students of the mission schools will give a good 
account of themselves, just as the men from Robert 
College did in Bulgaria, when that government 
came into existence. 



IV 
ON TO TEHERAN 

IT is a great step toward civilisation from the 
wilds of Kurdistan and the mountains of 
Armenia, in Eastern Turkey, to any of the bet- 
ter Persian cities, especially to the Capital. Our 
life of three and a half years in that remote region 
had been under the Star and Crescent of the Sultan, 
but henceforth it was to be " Under the Shadow of 
the Shah," as the Persians love to say zeer-e 
siyay-Shahinshah. Our rest and furlough in 
America had made us anxious to get back to the 
free and interesting life of the Orient. I have fre- 
quently noticed that those who have spent years in 
the East are never quite satisfied at home. To a 
medical man, the field of usefulness is only limited 
by his strength to meet the many demands that are 
made upon him. 

The usual route taken by Americans going to 
Teheran is via Vienna or Berlin, then to Baku, the 
great Russian oil-centre on the Caspian, from which 
point steamers cross over to the Persian ports. 
Steamers usually take about thirty hours for the 
trip, but ten of them are consumed at Astara, the 
town at the Persian frontier, where the health and 

72 



ON TO TEHERAN 73 

custom officials come on board; the former to in- 
spect the crowds of pilgrims coming from Mecca, 
Meshed, or other of the Mohammedan shrines, and 
the latter to examine the luggage and passports. 
When cholera is raging in the region, as is some- 
times the case, a quarantine detains the traveller sev- 
eral days. Food may be obtained on shipboard, but 
no bedding is furnished, and it is well for the winter 
traveller to be well-supplied with rugs. On many 
of the boats the first-class passengers find the 
benches in the dining saloon far more comfortable 
than the stuffy little staterooms. 

The journey cannot be called comfortable at best, 
but it does make a great difference whether one is 
fresh from the comforts of home, or is returning, 
hardened by his Asiatic life. On one of several 
journeys made by the writer, he found his state- 
room swarming with silkworms. It seems that the 
person who had occupied the room on the previous 
trip had taken over with him some special breed of 
worms and some had escaped. At another time, the 
night was made hideous by a frightened horse, 
which insisted in sticking his head through the port- 
hole into the stateroom. These annoyances come 
as a shock to those fresh from home, but to those 
who have accustomed themselves to Oriental over- 
land travel, they are treated as mere instances of 
travel, good only to tell on long winter evenings to 
one's people gathered about the family hearth. 

It was a fine May afternoon when our steamer 



74 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

stood off the port of Enzeli and gave us our first 
glimpse of the Shah's domain from her northern 
gateway. It is always fine on the Caspian in May, 
and the green hills, heavily wooded, were in pleas- 
ing and striking contrast to Russia, still showing 
signs of winter, through which we had just passed. 
The Caspian Sea is lower than the Black Sea, and 
its shores are covered with the semi-tropical growth 
of vegetation, beautiful to look upon, but forming 
a jungle filled with malaria and fever. 

The whole district was at that time, and is yet, 
commercially and politically, under Russian in- 
fluence. The Shah has a high pavilion near the 
mouth of the harbour, from which the Persian flag 
flies, and which is used in entertaining the various 
ministers and diplomatic officers en route to Teheran. 
There is a little hotel where the unofficial may find 
a resting-place, if such are willing to pay official* 
prices. At nearly all the hotels and inns in Persia 
there is no regular tariff, guests being charged ac- 
cording to their ability to pay. At another time 
when I was passing that way, I found a part of the 
hotel given over to the health officers as a quarantine 
for cholera suspects. 

Persia, with the exception of the provinces that 
border on the sea, is a highland, with many fertile 
valleys, but more often an endless desert, too hot 
and dry in the summer to support life, and in the 
winter frightfully cold. Wherever sufficient water 
can be found to furnish irrigation the desert is 



ON TO TEHERAN 75 

quickly transformed into gardens, vineyards, and 
fields of grain. The climate is not an unhealthful 
one, except in the provinces around the Caspian, but 
these must needs be crossed by all travellers to the 
Shah's capital, unless the longer route, via Tiflis 
and Tabriz, is chosen. Travellers for Tabriz and 
the western provinces, instead of leaving the rail- 
way at Baku, continue their journey by rail to 
Jul fa, on the Aras. 

But the jungle is worth seeing. From Enzeli 
we were taken across the Mord-ob or Deadwater, 
for a distance of perhaps ten miles, then up a small 
creek in rowboats, more often pulled by half-clad 
coolies who ran along the shore. Nothing could be 
more enchanting than this ride of four or five miles 
up this stream to Pera Bazaar on a moonlight night 
in May. The bright light of the southern moon, so 
bright that numerous nightingales filled the night 
air with their song, and the stillness only disturbed 
by the splash of the crude gondola as it suddenly 
turned a sharp curve in the tortuous stream, made 
us forget the great throbbing world left far behind, 
and afforded a fitting entrance into the sombre, un- 
fathomable, and poetic Iran. 

Pera Bazaar, at the head of the canal or creek, is 
about four miles from Resht, the chief town in the 
Caspian valley, and the journey between the two 
places can be made over a well-built carriage road, 
save during the winter months, when the rains 
render the highway almost impassable. The city of 



76 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Resht is an important place, of some 60,000 people, 
having a considerable trade with Russia. It is the 
residence of a Governor-General, has a bazaar 
filled with Russian goods, some well-built houses, 
and a Mohammedan population, which, while nom- 
inally Persian, is largely pro-Russian in political 
sentiment. Just outside of the town are the fine and 
spacious grounds of the Russian Consulate, and 
those who have filled this consular post have been 
men especially chosen from St. Petersburg. There 
is also an English Vice-Consul stationed there, who 
is always most kind to American as well as to Eng- 
lish travellers. 

The American Presbyterians have a mission 
school and a dispensary in the centre of the city. 
Most of the other foreigners residing in Resht are 
engaged in the silk culture, hundreds of acres about 
the place being given up to the mulberry groves. 
The climate is very trying, and but few Europeans 
or Americans have found it possible to remain there 
long without a change. Not infrequently for a 
fortnight it rains continuously until great stagnant 
green ponds of water flood the streets, and the 
twilight hours are filled with the noise of thousands 
of croaking frogs. 

The land throughout the region is held in large 
tracts by landlords and is cultivated by peasants. A 
more sorry-looking lot of people would be hard to 
find than are the peasants of the jungle. Small of 
stature, pale and anaemic from malaria and lack of 



ON TO TEHERAN 77 

sunshine, senility is stamped on their faces at thirty 
years of age from starvation and hardships, while 
they are practically doomed from childhood to a 
life of serfdom in the rice-fields. Their life, there- 
fore, strikes the Westerner as being utterly hopeless. 

From Resht to Teheran is about two hundred 
miles, and the journey can be made over a well- 
built Russian waggon road. The company operat- 
ing the road agrees to take passengers through in 
forty-eight hours, if they wish to travel day and 
night. The traveller is furnished a carriage with 
four horses, which are changed every sixteen miles, 
there being eighteen changes on the route. 

One feels a sense of exhilaration as he leaves 
Resht, hears the crack of the Tartar driver's whip, 
and gets well started on the way. The first twenty- 
five miles are through the jungle, and then the foot- 
hills of the Elburz Mountains are entered. The 
air now becomes much lighter, the sun takes the 
place of the shadow, and the horses speed along 
with a quicker step. The forest is hardly left 
behind when the road enters the great groves of 
olive trees at Rud Bar. On the left is the river, 
Safid Rud, a stream as large as the Ohio at Cincin- 
nati, too rapid and rocky to be navigable. The 
scenery grows more rugged and grand as the moun- 
tains are entered and the forest disappears. Up, up, 
up the road winds, horses are frequently changed, 
the reckless Tartar driver, at breakneck speed, puts 
the carriage so near the edge of the cliff that rocks 



78 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

and gravel are sent whirling to the bottom of the 
gaping ravine. When urged to drive slowly, he 
answers with a grin, lights another cigarette, and 
with a fatalistic placidness observes, that " We are 
at all times in the hand of the Lord." Later, how- 
ever, when a waggon containing the effects of one 
of my English friends was turned over an embank- 
ment, a servant killed, and the company compelled 
to pay blood-money, strict orders were given to 
drive more carefully. But the Tartar driver, 
although himself badly injured in the fall, never 
doubted that it was the Divine purpose to kill that 
servant at that time in that way. The company, 
after paying the money, seemed to take another 
view of the matter. 

When the top of the Elburz Mountains is 
reached, the beautiful panorama of the Persian 
Highlands presents itself. It is a great plain, 
flanked on three sides by high, snow-capped moun- 
tains, and dotted with villages. The character of 
the architecture now changes, and the thatched roof 
gives way to earth, and the cane walls to adobe. 
But the greatest change is in the people. One sees 
fewer pale faces, for the men are strong and rugged, 
independent, and often insolent in their bearing 
toward Westerners. 

At Kasvin, ninety-six miles from Teheran, a stop * 
of several hours is usually made, giving time to 
overhaul the carriage. There is an hotel, where 
food may be obtained and resting rooms are avail- 



ON TO TEHERAN 79 

able. The town is one of the oldest in modern 
Persia, and has a population of perhaps 50,000. 
With the exception of two or three avenues, its 
streets are narrow, crooked, and often choked with 
filth. The climate, however, is excellent, as the 
mountains are near-by, and there is an abundance of 
sunshine. It is the headquarters of the Russian 
Road Company, which has now built a waggon road 
from there to Hamadan, to connect with their 
Resht-Teheran route. They also maintain an hos- 
pital for their employes. 

When the writer first went over this road the 
journey had to be made by caravan and required 
eight or nine days. Very little of it at that time 
was suitable for a carriage, and parts of it could 
only be traversed by the sure-footed mule. As the 
old caravan road led over the Kharzan pass, which 
was often impassable on account of snow, the posts 
were frequently greatly delayed in reaching 
Teheran. On one occasion, I remember that we 
were without home letters for six weeks, due to 
storms on the Caspian and heavy snows on the 
Kharzan. Whatever objection may be raised to the 
Russian occupation of Persia, it must be admitted 
that she has already rendered a great service in the 
construction of these military and commercial 
roads, that make the use of carriages and waggons 
possible. It may be that before nfany years go by, 
the trolley will supersede the expensive and 
antiquated methods of transport now in use. Were 



80 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

they to inaugurate a modern system of railways in 
Persia, it would go far toward relieving the deep- 
seated distrust that unquestionably exists in the 
minds of the Persians against their northern neigh- 
bours. 

The home and dispensary of the American mis- 
sionaries in Kasvin are in the heart of the town, 
some distance from the hotel and post-house. Near 
the hotel there is an office of the Indo-European 
Telegraph Company, where messages are accepted 
for Teheran or for Europe. For several miles 
about the city the farmers are engaged in the grape 
culture, and during the autumn months most 
luscious grapes can be purchased. The bazaars are 
not important, and the traveller is usually glad when 
the city gate is passed and he finds himself on the 
great open highway that stretches out for ninety- 
six miles, before the domes and spires of Teheran 
are seen. The road follows the Elburz Mountains 
all the way, skirting the southern foothills of that 
range. Sometimes the road leads through green 
fields, but more often over stony wastes, where the 
only signs of life are the shepherd boys with their 
flocks. Frequently upon seeing the sun-helmet of 
the Westerner these boys run with a lamb in their 
arms and offer it as a present, not expecting it to be 
accepted, but hoping that a small gift of money will 
be paid for the Courtesy of the offer. 

The journey from Teheran to Kasvin usually 
takes about sixteen hours, unless prolonged stops 



ON TO TEHERAN 81 

are made at the rest-houses when the horses are 
changed. Some twenty miles out from the Capital, 
the Karaj River is crossed and the plain of Teheran 
is entered. Just at the bridge is one of the royal 
gardens, but rarely visited by the Shah. After 
leaving Shahabad, the last post-house on the road, 
sixteen miles from the Capital, a fine view of Dema- 
vend may be obtained. This gigantic peak is over 
eighteen thousand feet high, and, although sixty 
miles away, seems less than half the distance. 

As one nears the city, the road widens and long 
rows of camels and pack animals, and an occasional 
carriage of a grandee with his retinue, are passed; 
gardens are more frequently seen and better kept 
than those about Kasvin ; but, with these exceptions, 
there is little to tell the stranger that he is nearing 
an Imperial city. 

Just before reaching the city-gate, and about a 
mile to the left, is a small, well-kept cemetery, where 
rest the European and American Protestants who 
have died in Persia. East of the city are the Roman 
Catholic and Russian burial-grounds. Sir Walter 
Scott's son, once a Secretary of the British Lega- 
tion, is buried in an old Armenian church near the 
Shah-Abdul-Azim gate. Without exception, they 
were brave men and women, who, whether diplo- 
matist, merchant, or missionary, died at their post 
of duty. If you had known them, you might not 
have agreed with their politics, not with their re- 
ligion, or with their purposes in being in the Orient; 



82 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

but when you had known them to have been brave 
in times when men's lives were tried as by fire, by 
cholera and pestilence, you would have generously 
forgotten all save their bravery. But we are now 
at the city-gate; let us go in. 



V 
THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 

TEHERAN, the capital and largest city in 
Persia, has a population of perhaps 
275,000 Mohammedans and some 25,000 
Armenians, Parsees, and Jews. The European 
colony, while small, has always been a potent factor 
in the social, business, and at times political life, of 
the place. As time is counted in Persia, it is a 
modern city, not being much older than Washing- 
ton. Yet for many centuries there has been a town 
of more or less importance in the vicinity, the most 
interesting and important having been Rhe (the 
Rhages of Scripture), which was probably con- 
temporary with Ecbatana and Nineveh, and which 
it is claimed had a million or more of inhabitants. 
But fable and obscurity have so clothed the history 
of the Parthian Kings that we will leave the history 
of their capital to those endowed by nature with a 
lucid imagination, and confine ourselves to the more 
prosaic subject, viz., the Shah's Capital. 

It was a small town, with houses built of mud, 
when Shah Aga Mohammed Khan, founder of the 
Kajar dynasty, established his capital there. This 
special locality was chosen because the Elburz 

83 



84 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Mountains on the north afforded a wall of defence 
against a Russian invasion, and at the same time 
afforded shelter against the fierce north winds that 
sweep across the highlands in winter. It was 
intended only as a winter capital, the summers of 
the Court being spent at Sultaneah and in the moun- 
tains. Indeed, the Court now leaves the city about 
the beginning of June and remains away until 
October. The Persian has always been a nomad, 
and lives as much as possible out-of-doors. 

But Teheran to-day is a very different place from 
what it must have been a hundred years ago. From 
a small mud village on a stony plain, it has grown 
until now it is over four miles in diameter. The 
circular wall which surrounds it is pierced by thir- 
teen gates, covered with gaudy tile, through which 
great crowds constantly pass and repass. Extensive 
gardens have been recently laid out for several miles 
about the city, many containing large and palatial 
suburban homes. 

There are twenty miles of bazaars, filled with all 
sorts of goods, brought from the four corners of 
the earth. Many of these bazaars are covered 
streets, on either side of which are small shops. The 
modern arcade of Western architecture is taken from 
these Oriental bazaars. Nothing could be of more 
interest to the Westerner, and I might at the same 
time say more exasperating, than a visit to these 
centres of trade. Most of the shops are small, but 
one cannot judge in Persia by exteriors, and some of 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 85 

these shops that appear mean and small represent 
a surprisingly large investment of capital. Almost 
any article desired can be found in this subterranean 
mart, if one knows where to look for it. This is 
not always easy, because a hardware merchant not 
infrequently carries, as a side line, English shoes, 
while I have been told by a shoe merchant that his 
best profits were made on opium and liquor. No 
one is ever expected to pay the first price asked by 
the shopkeeper. Not infrequently many times the 
true value is demanded, and those who are simple 
enough to pay it are at once branded as easy vic- 
tims for the future. Often servants, and others act- 
ing as interpreters for the newcomer, insist on a 
fabulous price being charged and later drop around 
and divide the profit. Of course, these things take 
place largely in the petty transactions with the small 
shopkeeper, although the man dealing in sums re- 
quiring six and more figures is not proof against 
madokhal or graft. Indeed, ten per cent, is always 
claimed by the servant who buys the simplest 
article for the household. 

Even the professions are tinged with this idea 
of questionable gain. Some years ago a true 
son of Iran, a well-known hakim or doctor of 
good reputation, appeared at the door of my 
office to ask me to go in consultation with other 
physicians, the patient being a well-known prince 
living on the west side. I being new in deal- 
ing with these bland but clever rogues, did not sus- 



86 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

pect at that time that there was anything wrong. 
He said that the patient had been ill for a long 
time and had been greatly reduced financially by 
reverses. With a profound bow he asked me to 
accept a little more than half the usual fee, all the 
poor man was able to pay, he said, and took his 
departure. 

The consultation was held, but instead of find- 
ing a poor man we were taken to the home of 
a prince living in luxury and elegance. Several of 
my European colleagues were present, and the 
prince desired us to see him from time to time. 
When he settled his account he mentioned fifty 
krans which he had sent in advance by the above- 
mentioned Persian doctor. I told him only thirty 
krans had reached me, and it afterwards came out 
that the Persian had made twenty krans from each 
consultant! Indeed, he had insisted upon the con- 
sultation for this purpose, and not for help in the 
case! As the Persian doctor was a man of much 
influence among his people, and I was quite new, I 
did not know how to go about getting the twenty 
krans without giving offence. But upon reaching 
home I sat down and wrote him a delicate epistle in 
Persian, a translation being as follows : 

" To the most learned and exalted head of all 
medical knowledge and pillar of our most blessed 
profession, Mirza Agha Khan, physician, surgeon, 
and philosopher, peace be to you and to your house 
(I felt like saying to your ashes) ! After inquiring 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 87 

concerning the condition of your blessed constitu- 
tion and calling to mind your many noble deeds of 
philanthropy, I beg to trouble you with a little mat- 
ter. You will remember that on a certain day thirty 
krans were paid to me by a certain celebrated 
physician (may his shadow never grow smaller!), 
it being the amount sent by a certain prince for con- 
sultation. It now appears that the prince sent fifty 
krans, instead of thirty, and it is also well known 
that the twenty krans must still exist in the universe. 
As physicians frequently 'carry in their pockets 
medicine of a mucilaginous character, it had oc- 
curred to me that by mistake twenty krans of the 
above amount may possibly have stuck in your 
pocket. If you will kindly take the trouble and do 
me the great favour to turn your pockets inside out 
and carefully see if I am right in my surmise, you 
will greatly oblige not only the writer, but His Ex- 
cellency the Prince." Without any evidence of 
shame or embarrassment, a few days later he called 
and said I was right in my surmise, and paid the 
remaining twenty krans. I never knew whether or 
not he refunded the same amount to the other con- 
sultants. 

Much of the business in Persia is transacted out- 
side of the bazaars. Street vendors, with their 
loaded donkeys, may be seen everywhere selling any 
and all sorts of goods. There is the man who 
peddles boiled beets, the ice-cream man, the lemon- 
ade man, the fruit man, the bread man, and others 



88 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

selling every sort of eatable. The cry of ju-jeh, by 
the chicken seller, is a familiar one to all. An 
analysis of the ice-cream sold on the street showed 
more microbes than the contents of the open sewer. 
It is generally well flavoured with rosewater, quince 
juice, or melon. Many ladies of rank have the mer- 
chant bring their goods to the house, and this branch 
of the dry goods trade is always important. Much 
of this trade is in the hands of Jews. 

Time in Persia is marked according to the Ori- 
ental standard, twelve o'clock being always at sun- 
set. Noon is announced by the firing of a cannon in 
the great drill-ground. There is frequently a differ- 
ence of a quarter to a half hour on two successive 
days. But there are no trains to catch in Persia, and 
men count time of less value than we do in the New 
World. a Fair d eh Inshallah, to-morrow, if God 
wills, we shall do so and so," is the favourite expres- 
sion of many. 

Westerners residing in the dry highlands of cen- 
tral Asia usually become very nervous, and in a few 
years must return to a lower altitude and a climate 
more humid. Not so, however, with the Persian, 
who always keeps his nerve and usually his good 
humour, so long as he is not hurried. About the only 
thing that is done quickly in Persia is a funeral! 
Some years ago, a mason working on a stable near 
our hospital fell from the wall and was killed shortly 
after ten o'clock, and at noon he had been buried 
and the men were back at work. 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 89 

In one of the towers in Teheran is a clock which 
must be wound every eight days, and a special man 
is employed to perform this arduous task; on Mon- 
day he winds the clock, and patiently smoking his pipe 
for a week, watches it run down. He is said to be 
the most contented servant in the town, and is the 
envy of many whose lines have not fallen in such 
pleasant places. 

But we must not think that there are no serious 
and busy men in Iran. A great many examples 
might be given of men who valued time and con- 
verted it into money. The Arbab-Jamshid, the 
leading Parsee merchant in Teheran, only a few 
years ago was in the employ of others at a nominal 
salary as a scribe. To-day he is counted one of the 
richest and most influential men in Persia. Not 
only is he considered capable in financial matters, 
but in political as well, having been elected a mem- 
ber of the first parliament. Simple and democratic 
in his tastes, he is known as the friend of the poor 
and the benefactor of his own people. On more 
than one occasion has the writer in his professional 
capacity known of the generosity of this gentleman 
to the poor and needy. Others might be named 
among the Armenian and Mohammedan merchants 
for their unostentatious acts of benevolence, and 
their evident ability to deal with large business 
questions. 

Nearly all the native business men have their 
offices in large caravansaries in the bazaar. There 



90 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

is less form and ceremony in these places of 
business than one finds at home. No matter how 
weighty the matters may be that are under consid- 
eration there is always time for a cup of tea and the 
ever-present kalyan or water-pipe. And who can 
say but that many an American business man would 
be a more agreeable husband and citizen if, when 
crowded and pressed by momentous and overwhelm- 
ing financial matters, he would stop long enough for 
the blood to cool a little and the nerve cell, that is 
crying out for rest, to regain its poise, and take a 
cup of tea. 

There are no saloons in Persia, although 
liquor is sold in many of the shops and stores. 
The common people drink the ordinary arak, a 
distillation from raisins, containing from thirty 
to fifty per cent, of alcohol. A good deal of 
native wine is also drunk. It is needless for me to 
remark here that the effects of alcoholic drinks is not 
less deleterious and pernicious in the East than in 
America. Indeed, it is in some ways more harmful 
than the eating of opium, although it cannot in any 
way be compared with the evils of the opium-pipe. 
The use of alcoholic drinks has been growing for 
some years among the Mohammedans, who, when 
the habit is once established, rarely quit it. There 
are, however, those, indeed, I might say many, who 
solemnly abjure the use of spirituous drinks of all 
kinds and deplore their sale in the open market. Un- 
fortunately, many of those who realize the mis- 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 91 

chievous effects of alcohol see little harm in the use 
of opium. The difference in their minds is largely a 
religious one, because the Koran condemns the use 
of alcohol, but says nothing about opium. It is 
unfortunate that among the Armenians the same 
religious prejudice does not exist, as alcohol has 
always been a curse to that clever people, although 
it may be said to their credit that the use of opium 
is practically unknown amongst them. The Ori- 
ental who does not smoke is the exception. Snuff 
is also used by many, but the habit of chewing the 
weed is unknown. No house is considered fur- 
nished without a number of water-pipes and cigar- 
ette cases. The tea-house, found on almost any 
corner, is the rendezvous for all who are idle. At 
these places food, alcohol, opium, and tobacco are 
dispensed as well as tea. 

In Teheran, there is a system of horse-cars that 
is largely patronised by the common people. It is 
the opinion of those who ought to know that a trol- 
ley system could be set up, the power being fur- 
nished from Paskulleh, a splendid waterfall some 
fifteen miles from the city. Several large factories 
have been attempted in Teheran, but have been 
doomed to disappointment, because the price of 
coal is prohibitory, it often selling as high as fif- 
teen dollars per ton. The city of Teheran is well 
suited for a trolley system, many of the streets 
being wide and level. At present all who can 
afford it patronise public carriages, of which 



92 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

there are said to be more than five hundred at the 
public stands. 

The only two things that are cheap in Teheran 
seem to be human life and horses. The price of the 
life of the ordinary peasant has been determined at 
the low figure of thirty-five dollars, and a good horse 
can be bought for less than twice that sum. And yet 
living for both man and beast is not less expensive 
in Teheran than in many parts of our own country. 
Indeed, many communities throughout the Orient 
could be supported upon what the farmers of a 
single county in America annually waste. Unques- 
tionably many perish in Teheran each year from 
starvation, and it is no unusual sight to see a half- 
starved invalid lying by the wayside. During the 
bitter cold months of winter we often found these 
cases at our hospital gate. These instances became 
so frequent that we had a special room built, where 
we could offer them shelter and food. 

There is no middle class in Persia, as we under- 
stand the term, the people being either rich or poor. 
The wealth of the upper classes consists largely in 
agricultural lands worked by the peasants. There 
is no system of direct taxation, as villages and farm- 
ing districts are sold for a term of years to the high- 
est bidder, who is responsible to the government for 
a lump sum. The landlord appoints a steward to 
manage the village or estate, and collects a heavy 
tax from the toiler. The result is that the peasant 
remains poor while the landlord becomes rich. 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 93 

To the ordinary Persian, Teheran represents all 
that Paris does to the Frenchman. It is his ambition 
to have a town house as well as a country seat. Be- 
cause this plan has been followed by many, the 
city has constantly grown at the expense of the 
country, but the unjust steward is wise in his gen- 
eration, and while he spends thousands of tomans 
upon an elegant home, surrounded by gardens of 
roses and tall chinars, he surrounds the whole with 
the most shocking mud wall imaginable. In a land 
where no citizen is exempt from oppression, it is not 
always safe to display one's wealth, and hence the 
mud wall. But this is not the only reason, for the 
Persian is poetic in his very nature, loving the trees 
often planted with his own hands, the rosebushes 
that bloom all the year, all watered by the rushing 
little irrigating ditch that hurries swiftly along, 
bringing refreshment and verdure wherever it goes. 
It rarely rains in Teheran from June until late in 
November, and the gardens which have transformed 
the dry and weary land into a mighty oasis are 
nourished by a system of subterranean aqueducts 
called kanats. These conduits draw their water 
supply from the Elburz Mountains, twelve to fifteen 
miles away. The city is fairly well-supplied with 
water, most of the better streets being regularly 
irrigated. Some of the gardens are beautiful. The 
soil everywhere is very fertile, and, when well- 
watered, will grow all the fruits and vegetables 
found in our Southern States. 



94 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Nearly all the better houses in Teheran consist of 
a beroon and anderoon. The beroon, from which 
women are excluded, is used by the master of the 
house for the reception of his guests and the 
transaction of most of his private business. It is 
usually elegantly furnished, with European fixtures 
from Vienna or Paris, and consists of several large 
rooms which may be utilised, if occasion demands, 
for giving parties. In case an official dinner is given 
in the beroon, none of the ladies of the anderoon are 
ever present. It frequently happens that European 
ladies with their husbands attend these functions, 
and, after the dinner is over, are invited into the 
anderoon to meet the ladies of the household. Men 
are never allowed in the harems or anderoons unless 
they be physicians or priests, in which case they 
are accompanied by the trusted chamberlain. 

Polygamy, which formerly was universal, has in 
a large measure been given up by the better classes, 
and the wives and families are constantly being 
given more liberty and freedom. This is especially 
the case in the larger places, and it is the opinion of 
those in a position to know that the emancipation of 
women from the restricted life of the harem is com- 
ing in Persia as fast as the women themselves are 
ready for it. A great work of education must first 
be done before they will be able to discern the dif- 
ference between license and liberty. One bold spirit, 
a sort of suffragist, published a bitter article in 
a Persian newspaper recently, in which she calls to 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 95 

mind the sad state of her sisters in Persia. It is a 
hopeful sign when these -bold spirits arise and de- 
mand the commonest rights which have so long been 
denied them. A few years ago, one of the daugh- 
ters of Nasr-ed-Din Shah threw aside her veil and 
chuddar and went to Europe " to learn something," 
as I heard it. The veil and chuddar of the Persian 
women are not only very disagreeable to the eye but 
more so to the wearer. It affords little protection to 
the head from the burning sun, with the result that 
the wearer is often subject to severe attacks of head- 
ache. The short skirt and trousers worn in the 
home are about the limit of all that is disgraceful. 

It has been well written that " Out of the heart 
are the issues of life;" hence, the great reforms that 
are to come to Persia must centre about the home, 
and it is hard for us to conceive of a home without 
the enlightened mother and wife. Not a few of the 
Persian women realise this truth, and are making 
every endeavour to obtain education and knowledge. 
In every country women are great factors in the 
social, political, and even business life, and in this 
regard the history of Persia shows that it is not to 
be an exception, although there is a mighty need of 
advancement. 

The citadel in Teheran, in which are located the 
Palace and public offices, was, when first built, on 
the upper side of the town; but now the city has 
grown until it is quite in the centre. It contains 
probably fifteen or twenty acres, and is surrounded 



96 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

by a double wall. In this enclosure, called " The 
Ark," lives the king with his numerous household. 
Like other Persian houses, the Palace contains a 
beroon room and anderoon or harem. The beroon 
consists of a dozen or more large reception rooms 
and a number of smaller ones, all built around a 
large court. A great deal of money has been spent 
to bring furnishings from Europe and yet the choic- 
est pieces in the Palace are some Persian rugs. The 
rooms are all lighted by electricity from the Shah's 
electrical plant. In one of the rooms there are more 
than four hundred incandescent burners. It is 
worthy of remark here that the man who manages 
this plant is an Armenian. Not only are the build- 
ings and the grounds of the citadel lighted by elec- 
tricity, but His Majesty's meals are often prepared 
on an electrical range in one of the large drawing- 
rooms. I remember once being present when Mu- 
zaffar-ed-Din Shah ordered his evening meal, which 
was cooked in his presence by a celebrated Persian 
chef. At that time lights were kept burning all 
night in the garden, as it was the custom of the 
king to arise frequently in the middle of the night 
for a short walk. 

The Museum, or large reception room, has 
been so frequently described that it is unnecessary 
for me to dwell upon it here. It is in this 
room that the Diplomatic Corps is received, and 
it is the most pretentious room in the Palace. The 
floor is laid with glazed tile, the arched ceiling and 




ROYAL GARDENS, TEHERAN. 
Palace in the distance. 




BAGH-E-SHAH. 
A favorite retreat of the late Shah near Teheran. The statue, repre- 
senting Nasr-ed-Din, Shah, on horseback, is the work of a Persian 
sculptor. 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 97 

pillars are in harmony, and the windows are of plate 
glass. It is filled with all sorts of curios, including 
advertisements familiar to all magazine readers. 
Some of the articles are of great value, such as the 
famous " Peacock Throne," covered with all kinds 
of precious stones, and said to be valued in the mil- 
lions. There is also a famous globe covered with 
precious gems, the various continents being inlaid 
with different coloured stones. But to the mind of 
most visitors there is nothing in the Palace so pleas- 
ing as the rich rugs of Iran. The late Shah added 
a music and billiard room, where he spent many of 
his evenings. 

The anderoon is just north of the beroon, and has 
accommodations for a dozen families, including 
their servants and attendants. It is built around a 
square, much like ordinary two-story flats in our 
American cities. In the centre of the square the 
king has a fine and substantial residence. Around 
this separate enclosure is a high wall, the doors 
being always guarded by a trusty chamberlain, 
usually an African slave. 

The Shah's college, attended by a large num- 
ber of students, is also within the citadel. This 
college has a good building and a fair equip- 
ment, but there has always been difficulty in 
the management and discipline of the school. 
Still a great deal of good work has been done. 
Recently the medical department has been reor- 
ganised, under the direction of some able French 



98 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

physicians. There is also a military department, 
another of music and drawing, engineering, mining, 
and possibly others. The agricultural school is at 
the garden of Negaristan. The library has a good 
many European books; the only American article 
that I saw in the room was a large missionary map 
of the world, made in New York in 1856. On the 
face of this map were the words, " Go ye therefore 
and teach all nations," etc. 

Adjoining the school are the buildings of the 
English Telegraph Co. Messages for India and 
Australia, sent by the Indo-European, are re-sent 
from Teheran. This requires a rather large force 
of clerks. The European Colony are under many 
obligations to the various officials of this department 
for news of the outside world, the Public News, 
a little sheet, being published daily in English and 
French. These items of news of course cannot be 
printed in Teheran until after they have been pub- 
lished in India, but we generally got American news 
within twenty- four hours. 

Above the telegraph offices is the public square, 
called the Tope-Maidan, which has become the centre 
of the city. From it, streets diverge in all direc- 
tions, and it is the centre for horse-cars and car- 
riages to any part of the city. The only business 
house opening into the square is the Imperial Bank 
of Persia, occupying large and spacious grounds to 
the east. Near-by is the Post Office and a depart- 
ment of the Custom House, in the Rue Lalah Zar, 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 99 

the principal street for European shops. A block 
west, leading north into the European quarter, is the 
Khaiban Ala Dovleh, sometimes given the name of 
Le Boulevard des Ambassadeurs by our French 
friends. Several of the legations at the Turkish 
Embassy are on this street. The English legation, 
at the head of the street, occupies a large compound, 
one of the most pleasing and attractive gardens in 
the city, in which live the Minister and the various 
attaches. The homes in this legation are most com- 
fortable, and afford the sojourner in Persia, weary 
of Oriental scenes, a glimpse of home. Our own 
country has never owned a home for its Minister, 
and the Stars and Stripes have always had to float, 
in Teheran, over a hired house. 

The American Mission is on the edge of the 
European Colony, and in its compound is the Amer- 
ican Chapel, where the Protestants of the city wor- 
ship. It contains three acres, and the trees have 
grown until it has become a pleasing garden. Be- 
sides the chapel, there are the schools for boys, 
another for girls, and several residences. The 
American Hospital occupies a compound of its own, 
some two miles away, in another part of the city. 
The Roman Catholics have a neat chapel just off 
the Rue Lalah Zar, where the Europeans holding 
that faith worship. The Greek Catholics meet for 
prayer at their own Russian chapel. 

The government of Teheran is carried on by a 
governor or mayor, appointed by the Crown. Under 



100 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

him are the various city offices, the most important 
perhaps being the police department. Much of the 
revenue of the city passes through the governor's 
hands, and the office has been in years past a very 
lucrative one; at one time it was reported to be 
worth almost as much as the salary of the President. 
The police are assisted in their work by the night 
watchmen, who go about pounding the wall with 
their clubs and singing at the top of their voices. A 
small tax or present is paid by each household to 
this disturber of their sleep. Should they by chance 
make an arrest, the thief must be held until morn- 
ing, as there is no patrol waggon. Punishment is 
often inflicted by public whipping, usually by the 
bastinado. This is sometimes used to obtain evi- 
dence. Many of the punishments are most cruel, 
and the prisons are intolerable to even the most 
hardened. 

Often the prisoners are offered such a poor 
quality of food that they are unable to eat it, and 
even were they to partake of it their weakened 
digestive systems could not assimilate it. On more 
than one occasion were patients sent to our hospital 
who had been almost starved in the prison. Usually, 
the friends of the prisoners bring food to them. In 
view of these conditions it becomes more human to 
resort to the whipping-post, for while the punish- 
ment is severe there is no permanent damage done the 
culprit. Besides, in Persia, it is no disgrace to be sent 
to prison, as many of the best men in the community 



THE SHAH'S CAPITAL 101 

have at some time in their life been arrested on some 
charge or other, often of no importance whatever. 
For many years past, life in Teheran has been just 
as safe as in most cities of its size in Europe or 
America. It would seem that murders were less 
frequent in Teheran than in many other places of 
equal size and importance. It may be, however, 
that we do not hear of many crimes that take place, 
because these things are not published in the daily 
papers. 



VI 

THE ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 

THE winter climate in the Persian capital 
is always fine until after Christmas, when 
there is some cold weather. Indeed, 
January and February have many sunny days and 
would be most agreeable were it not for the muddy 
streets that prevent one from getting out-of-doors. 
Some one who has kept an account has stated that 
there are usually more than three hundred cloudless 
days in Teheran during the year. From the begin- 
ning of June until the end of November there is no 
rain. In January and February, there is always ice 
and snow, although the thermometer rarely reaches 
ten degrees above zero, Fahrenheit. By building 
high walls on the south side of the ponds and 
ditches, which protect them from the rays of the 
sun, sufficient ice is obtained for the summer. It is 
often of a very poor quality, and cannot be used in 
drinking water, as the ponds from which it is 
obtained are often filled with dirt, and it necessarily 
becomes a source of all sorts of illnesses. Few 
Europeans are brave enough to risk the tempting 
sherbet and other delicious drinks made from un- 
boiled water and ice from these ponds. Fatalism 

102 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 103 

has so taken hold of the Mohammedan servant that 
it is hard to make him think otherwise than that 
the health of us all depends much more upon Allah 
than upon boiled water. 

The summers in Teheran, on account of the long, 
dry, hot season, are very trying, and as a result most 
of the Europeans go to the near-by hills, where in 
villages of gardens they find cool retreats. This 
cooler region is rendered so by its proximity to 
the Elburz range of mountains, which at this point 
are about eleven thousand feet high, and covered 
most of the year with snow. The Shimran region, 
which begins only six miles from the city, covers 
almost as much territory as an ordinary county in 
America, has many villages in it, most of which 
have an abundance of pure water, fresh from the 
snow-fields, and also plenty of shade. Some years 
ago, the Shah gave the village of Gulhac to the 
British Government for the use of their legation, 
and for the English subjects residing in Teheran. 
At the same time, just across the road from Gulhac, 
the fine village of Zergendie was assigned for the 
use of the Russians. Recently, the German Govern- 
ment has secured a large place nearer the hills; 
while the Turks for many years have owned one of 
the choicest places in the whole Shimran region. 
With a few other exceptions, all the European 
Colony must rent a place for summer. As the stay 
in the country is often for a third of a year, many 
move up their entire household, with all their furni- 



104 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ture. One of the most pleasant retreats is found 
in the village of Gulhac, where there is an English 
sanitary officer, and where the government of the 
place is in the hands of the Legation. The writer, 
with his family, has spent several delightful sum- 
mers there. There is some social life, which the 
younger members of a family always greatly enjoy, 
as will be shown by the following incident, which 
I quote from a letter written by our son, then a lad 
in Gulhac: 

" When I left the United States, now nearly 
a year ago, I was wondering what fun an Amer- 
ican boy and girl could have in Persia. On 
Thanksgiving we had a turkey, on Christmas we 
had a tree and Santa Claus, but for the Fourth of 
July they told us we could not fly an American flag 
unless we got special permission to do so. I thought 
the Fourth would not be much good without ' Old 
Glory/ 

" In June, the weather became so hot in Teheran 
that we moved out to a village six miles away. This 
village is called Gulhac, which means a little flower. 
It looks like a flower, because it has so many trees, 
and is stuck in between the mountains like a bouquet 
in a vase. Some years ago, the Shah gave it to the 
British legation for their summer home, and so the 
government of the village is English. We are the 
only Americans living here, all the other people 
being English and Persian. The ' Union Jack ' flies 
on a high flagstaff all the time. Now the question 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 105 

of the Fourth seemed harder than ever, because to 
celebrate with fireworks and ' Old Glory ' without 
permission, when all our neighbours were English, 
might get a fellow into trouble. Well, I thought 
about the question a great deal, and finally my sister 
and I decided to send a petition to the British Minis- 
ter and tell him our difficulties. It happened just at 
that time that we were invited to a tea-party at 
which the Minister was to be present. We wrote the 
following petition, and in the presence of our host- 
ess and her guests, my sister presented it to the Min- 
ister on June 25, 1904. 

" e To His Excellency, Sir Arthur Hardinge, 
H. B. M. Minister. 
" ' Sir : We are an American boy and girl living 
in your village, and desire to celebrate the Fourth of 
July by flying our American flag and having fire- 
works. We think Gulhac a nice place, and like to 
live here very much. We think all it lacks is ' a 
Fourth of July.' We are, therefore, asking to fly 
the Stars and Stripes on that day. This seems fair, 
because your proud flag flies all the time here in the 
village. Do you not think it would be nice to have 
both flags on that day ? So we are asking to fly our 
flag in our garden, as we did in America. We are 
sure you will grant this petition. 

" ' Your American friends, 

" ' Fred B. Wishard, 

" c Bertha Alice Wishard/ 



106 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

" When the Minister read the petition he looked 
very solemn and said it was a very important mat- 
ter, but he would telegraph to London and later on 
would send us the answer. He said there would be 
no objection to the fireworks, but the question of the 
flag was different. Late in the evening a messenger 
came with a large envelope with the word ' urgent ' 
on it. It also said : 



" * On His Britannic Majesty's 'Service, 
British Legation,, Teheran. 

June 25, 1904. 

" ' Sir and Madam : With reference to your peti- 
tion dated to-day, I had the honour to explain to 
you at Mrs. Odling's tea party that there would be 
no difficulty about the proposed fireworks, but that 
I was not so sure about the flag. I now find that an 
act of Parliament is necessary, and that a British 
Minister who gave similar permission without 
authority, during the reign of Queen Anne, was 
condemned on his return to England to be beheaded 
for high treason and to have his own head stuck on 
a flagstaff. 

" ' We cannot, I fear, pass an act through Parlia- 
ment between now and the Fourth of July, but, in 
order to oblige you, and show my sympathy for 
America, I am willing to take this serious risk and 
sanction the flying of the Star-Spangled Banner as 
proposed by you. I hope, under these circum- 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 107 

stances, you will invite me to witness the fireworks. 
I am, sir and madam, your obedient servant, 

11 ' Arthur Hardinge/ 

" I cannot tell you how happy we were when this 
permission came, for we had bought in Indianapolis, 
before starting for Persia, a large, fine flag. Now 
that we had permission to fly it, we hung it to one of 
the great trees in our garden. How beautiful it 
looked in the bright Persian sunshine! We also 
sent to Teheran for a lot of fireworks, and as all the 
roofs in Persia are flat and made of earth, and 
there is no danger from fire, we took them upon the 
housetop and made them ready to shoot off in the 
evening. 

" At nine p.m. Sir Arthur, with nearly all the 
ladies and gentlemen of the Legation, and a number 
of other English friends, came to our garden, and 
we had a real Fourth of July celebration. The 
Persians make fine fireworks, and these were splen- 
did. After the fireworks, we had some funny 
songs, and then all sang ' America ' and ' God Save 
the King,' and ate ice-cream. I hope the Minister 
will not have his head put on a flagstaff when he re- 
turns to England, for I think he is a pretty fine gen- 
tleman. Don't you? F. B. W." 

As these summer homes in the hills have doors 
that are rarely ever closed, there are many petty 
robberies. The writer, while living in the village of 



108 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Tajrish, lost some things once under somewhat 
peculiar and humorous circumstances. Hearing the 
noise at night, the household was awakened and all 
went on the search of the thief, but none could be 
found. After another hour the noise was again 
heard, but the search for the thief was in vain. The 
third time when the noise was heard no attention 
was paid to it, as there seemed to be some strange 
dogs in the yard. In the morning we found that the 
house had been entered and a considerable quantity 
of clothing taken. It seems that the thieves who did 
the robbing belonged to a band of roving profes- 
sional robbers, who were sharing their plunder with 
certain ones able to give them protection. This fact 
having been shown, our Minister, the Hon. Arthur 
S. Hardy, collected the value of the stolen articles. 
The thieves carried with them a ladder, and, when 
they found us awake, they ran to the mud roof, pull- 
ing the ladder up after them. We naturally had 
looked everywhere but on top of the house for the 
culprits. 

During the hottest weeks of summer there are 
perhaps fifty thousand people from Teheran in the 
hills. The road from town, upon which nearly all 
must travel for the first four miles, is a narrow high- 
way between two rows of trees across the desert. 
There being no rain, and as the road is very infre- 
quently sprinkled, the dust is frightful, as those of 
us whose work makes it necessary to make frequent 
trips into town can testify. It is said that during the 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 109 

busy season not less than twenty thousand horses 
pass along this route. Often the dust is so bad that 
the driver can see but a few yards ahead of his team. 

On the right of the road, some two miles from the 
city gate, is the Kajar Castle, occupying a splendid 
site overlooking the plain and city. It was the fa- 
vourite country seat of one of the earlier Shahs who 
died there, and since that time it has been allowed 
to go somewhat into ruin. Besides, the fine gardens 
with their palaces at Neaveran and Sultanettabad 
have become much more attractive, being supplied 
with more water and being much cooler. Although 
the Shah has more than a half dozen charming 
retreats, in and about the capital, he deserts them 
all in August, and moves his court to the Lar Val- 
ley, or to the slopes of Mt. Demavend, where the 
nomadic life is followed until the frosts of autumn 
make it impossible comfortably to remain longer in 
tents. A considerable number of Europeans also 
resort to the Lar in midsummer for the splendid 
trout-fishing found there. 

The fruit grown in the hills, consisting of 
apples, peaches, pears, apricots, and plums, is 
all of good quality and usually sufficient for 
the markets. At the village of Paskulleh are 
grown some excellent varieties of cherries. There 
are also many kinds of vegetables. Next to the 
fruits, the cucumber is most highly prized, and is 
eaten as an apple with a little salt. They seem quite 
harmless, so long as they are not made into salads 



110 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

and eaten with vinegar. They are, too, grown very 
quickly in the strong sun and seem much lighter 
and more brittle than the same vegetable at home. 
The strawberries, owing to the bright light, soon 
lose their colour, although the flavour is retained. 
There are also blackberries, and a few raspberries 
•and currants, grown. The grape region is to the 
southwest of Teheran. Here enormous quantities of 
all kinds of fruit are grown. Tropical fruits are 
seen only in the hot-houses in central Persia. 

Throughout all the Shimran region there are 
fairly well-built highways, where carriages may be 
driven, but the most pleasing rides and walks of all 
are found in the shady lanes w r hich lead through 
these orchards of fruit-trees. From any of the vil- 
lages there may be found abundant opportunity for 
ascending the mountain. Some of these excursions 
cannot be beaten in Switzerland. Very few Euro- 
peans have been to the top of Mt. Demavend, al- 
though I have been told by those who have made the 
ascent, that, notwithstanding its height, the excur- 
sion is not especially difficult. 

One of the landmarks in Shimran is the Persian 
mint, which is situated to the right of the road, 
about five miles from the city. Here is coined all 
the Persian silver currency, the bullion being 
brought from America, largely. Near the mint is 
the powder factory, and it should be said to the 
credit of those in charge of these explosive works 
that there have been few accidents. 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 111 

To the east of the city are the gardens of Dochin 
Tapeh, a favourite resort in the days of Nasr-ed- 
Din Shah, who converted a portion of the place into 
a zoological garden. The place was in part aban- 
doned by his successor, who a mile farther up the 
road erected a palace after his own ideas. Near 
here is the race-course where have been held the 
autumn races, once an event of much importance in 
social circles in Teheran. For the last few years, 
however, the season in the hills has been closed by 
the field-sports at Gulhac. 

We have spoken already of the west, north, and 
east suburbs of the city; now let us consider for a 
little while what is, in many ways, the most interest- 
ing of them all — the southern or Shah-Abdul-Azim 
region. The section is interesting, because it con- 
tains all that is left of ancient Rhei, the celebrated 
Moslem shrine of Shah-Abdul-Azim, and the only 
Tower of Silence remaining in central Persia, all 
about six miles from town. To reach these places 
one may take the tramway to near the city gate, and 
then the little railway which leads to the shrine. The 
street-cars all start from the Tope-Maidan, near the 
post office, and wind in and out through the crooked 
streets until the station is reached. The cars are 
divided, the open compartments being for men and 
the closed ones for women. The cars sometimes stop 
at a cafe long enough for the passengers to have 
some refreshments, usually a smoke, for both men 
and women are patrons of the long-stem water-pipe. 



112 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

As one passes down the street, one wonders 
what is behind the high mud walls. Sometimes tall 
sycamore trees, filled with thousands of singing 
birds, overhang the wall, and we know that it is the 
home of a grandee. Again, a substantial brick 
house lifts its head high above the surrounding 
buildings, and we recognise it as the home of a 
Persian or European gentleman. Farther down the 
street, a door opens and a veiled figure steps out and 
enters the car. Whether she is old or young, pretty 
or otherwise, is not for us to know, for she is 
encased from head to foot in a black sheet or chud- 
dar. It is not unusual, when the car stops, for a 
camel from a passing caravan to stick his long, 
stretchy neck in amongst the passengers, as if won- 
dering what sort of a moving creature the car is 
anyway. The station is a well-built brick building, 
after the Russian style, and the station master is 
treated with almost as much awe and consideration 
by his countrymen as we in America show the con- 
ductor on the " New York Flyer." It is strange, 
but true, that, all the world over, the brass button is 
the emblem of authority. 

On the railroad in Persia, there are three classes, 
first, second, and third, the difference in the price 
being seven cents. It is interesting to see what a 
social difference seven cents can make, for between 
the first and third classes there is a great gulf. It 
does not seem right to blame one for becoming an 
aristocrat when he can do it for seven cents. The 




A TYPICAL PERSIAN TOWN OF THE HIGHLANDS. 




A PERSIAN TRAIN. 
Persia has but six miles of railroad. 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 113 

first class is more comfortable, and, besides having 
a separate compartment, one has a cup of tea 
offered him. Just think of becoming one of the 
privileged class for seven cents! Perhaps, in this 
case, it is all it is worth, after all. 

Four or five miles out from Teheran the little toy- 
railroad winds in and out among what appear to be 
the foot-hills of the great Elburz range that flanks 
the Teheran plain on three sides. These hills are 
really artificial mounds, all that remain of the 
ancient city of Rhages, the capital of the Parthian 
dynasty, that is said to have once had a million pop- 
ulation. No colonnades remain to mark the hopes 
of this mighty people that have long since passed 
out of historic memory, and also from that of the 
occasional traveller. Where once were fine ave- 
nues, lined with the splendid homes of the proud 
Parthians, now live the small farmers who grow 
vegetables for the Teheran market. Nothing re- 
mains of the city's greatness, and nothing to mark 
its site, save the eternal foot-hills, on one of which 
we found the remains of an old watch-tower, over- 
looking the road to ancient Ecbatana. It was not 
hard for one to picture the lonely sentinel who had 
once lived in the tower, and whose duty was to keep 
an alert eye on the road that wound around like a 
serpent across the treeless plain. It was important 
in those days to know whether the traveller was 
friend or foe. To-day, it is different, and all about 
are the gardens and orchards, and not far away is 



114 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the sacred Mohammedan shrine of Shah-Abdul- 
Azim, the Mecca for thousands of pilgrims. 

In one of the near-by gardens lives a doctor, whose 
two sons are students in our hospital. This good- 
natured and prosperous successor of Avicenna did 
us the honour one day to invite us out to his country 
place for dinner, which was served at noon. Al- 
though there were several American and English 
ladies in the party, none of the women of the house- 
hold appeared. He explained that " his wife " was 
ill, but said nothing about the other two. The din- 
ner was served in picnic fashion on a long table and 
most of us stood while eating. The dessert was 
served first, and the menu was something like this : 



Rose Water 


Tea 


Lemonade 


Candy 


Ice Cream 


Walnuts 


Sour Milk, 






with cucumbers sliced in 


it 


Soup and Fish 


Chicken with Rice Mutton Chops 


l 


Stewed Beets 




Curry with Rice 




Stewed Lamb 


Partridges 


Lettuce 


Spinach 


Oranges, Apples 


Melons six months old 




(melons are 


kept for many months) 


Bread and Cheese 




Tea Tea Tea 



After dinner we walked down to the Tower of 
Silence, the burial-place of the Parsees, or Fire- 
Worshippers. We climbed a near-by hill, where we 
could look down into this tomb, and saw some fresh 
bodies exposed to the vultures, of which there 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 115 

seemed to be thousands among the rocks 'of the 
mountain. The tower is about forty feet high, in 
the centre of which is a great pit. Near the top, 
there are rafters that cross the tower and on these 
the dead are exposed and abandoned. The pall- 
bearers are hardly gone when the vultures begin 
their work. When the flesh is removed the disartic- 
ulated skeleton drops into the pit underneath. 

On our way back we passed a field where a man 
was ploughing. He was assisted by three boys, and 
his plough was drawn by six large oxen. A lad of 
fifteen in America would do more in a half day than 
all this force could do in a whole day with their 
primitive methods. But wages are cheap, for the 
boys hardly receive more than five cents a day, and 
a man twice that sum. The soil is very fertile, and 
the farmers grow nearly everything that is grown 
in a climate like Arizona and New Mexico. It is 
fortunate that the soil yields such abundant crops, 
otherwise the question of supplying Teheran with 
food would be even more difficult than it is now. 
In a country where there are no railways there may 
be abundant crops in one province, while there is 
famine in another, owing to the expensiveness of 
transport. The lack of cheap transport also favours 
those having means who desire to buy up all the 
grain and corner it. This is often done, and large 
sums are made thereby. 

No maize is grown in Persia, to speak of, but 
large quantities of wheat and barley are pro- 



116 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

duced. * Many people subsist upon bread, together 
with a few grains, grapes, native cheese, and 
tea. The bread is usually baked in long sheets, 
somewhat on the order of an extended pan- 
cake, and looks more like the shoemakers' sole 
leather than anything else. When fresh, it is very 
palatable and nutritious, being made from the whole 
wheat. In Teheran, there are some Greeks who 
furnish a very good quality of European white 
bread. Owing to the Mohammedan prejudice 
against pork, no swine are permitted to be killed. 
Indeed, there are none in the country. The cattle 
are of a poor quality, and are deemed by many not 
fit for food. Beef is always much cheaper than 
mutton, because the demand for it is very light. 
All sorts of stories are told about the age and con- 
dition of health of the cattle killed. One is that a 
European matron, hearing that a beef was to be 
killed in the neighbourhood, sent her servant over 
to the place to bring her some steak for luncheon. 
Noon came but no servant, tea-time passed and yet 
no word from the man. Late in the evening he 
returned with an empty basket, explaining his long 
delayed return by the remark " Cow got well 
already." 

The mutton in Persia is very fine, being more 
like our beef than what we know here at home 
as mutton. The difference between the American 
sheep and the Persian is in the ability of the latter 
to make a storehouse for fat out of their tails. All 



ENVIRONS OF TEHERAN 117 

the sheep in Persia have enormous deposits of fat 
in their tails during the winter and spring months, 
the size of the tail indicating the condition of the 
animal, and determining to a large degree its value. 
As the dry season comes on, and pasture becomes 
scarce, this deposit of fat is drawn upon to sustain 
life, otherwise the flocks would perish during the 
heated season. 

The fowls of Persia are not very good, , be- 
cause there is so little green for them to feed upon. 
In recent years, turkeys are being grown in large 
numbers, and are usually of excellent quality. 
The price of turkey-meat is not much more than 
that of mutton, and is getting more and more 
into general use. A very good quality of cheese 
is made by the peasants in the environs. The 
large fertile district of Verameen, south of the city, 
furnishes a large portion of the food for man and 
beast that is consumed in Teheran. Especially is 
this true of provender, and the price of barley de- 
pends largely upon the crop in that region. 

Owing to the presence of the Court, and the large 
number of horses required for the army, the question 
of provender is often an important one. I think that 
those who have dwelt long in Persia have reached 
the opinion that the armies of the ancient empire 
have been largely over-estimated, as regards num- 
ber, for the reason that the country could not have 
furnished these mighty hosts with food for the men 
and provender for their animals. It is not enough 



118 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

to ask if the country at that time was not more 
prosperous, for there has been always a great 
scarcity of water in the highlands, due to the lack 
of rainfall. 

West of the city is the beautiful garden called 
Bagh-e-Shah. It was first laid out as a race-course, 
but later abandoned as such. The beauty of the 
place consists in its abundance of water and fine 
trees. There is also a statue of the late Nasr-ed- 
Din Shah in bronze, done by a Persian. The figure 
represents the king on horseback, and is pleasingly 
set on a little island in the park, reached by a foot- 
bridge. 



VII 

TABRIZ AND THE WESTERN PROVINCES 

TABRIZ is the centre of social, commercial, 
and business life in the west of Persia, 
and, because it is the home of the Crown 
Prince, it is the second city in political influence. Its 
population is but slightly less than that of the capi- 
tal, and it is a close rival to it in all branches of 
trade. The name in Persian means the place of 
fever, but this seems to be a misnomer, because its 
situation on the highlands is one of the most salu- 
brious in Persia. It is the only place in the coun- 
try away from the Capital where an American con- 
sul is located. 

The town covers an immense area, and has large 
gardens, in which are the usual adobe or brick 
houses. It lacks the appearance of a city, as we 
understand the meaning of the term, but it has 
been for centuries past a place of more or less im- 
portance. Earthquakes on several occasions have 
almost destroyed the city, but each time it has been 
rebuilt, until now it is probably larger than it has 
ever been. From time to time earthquakes are felt, 
but no great damage has been done for fifty years 
past. One hears fabulous stories about the great 

119 



120 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

number of inhabitants that once lived in Persia; the 
different cities that had populations like Chicago, 
Philadelphia, Boston, and other places of that class, 
have to-day, but the writer must confess that he 
finds it hard to believe that Persia ever had a great 
population, and he is inclined to the view that the 
cities of Teheran and Tabriz are as large and im- 
portant to-day as they have ever been, notwithstand- 
ing the stories about ancient Rhages and similar ones 
about Tabriz. 

The language one hears in the streets of Tabriz 
is the Turkish that is spoken throughout the west- 
ern provinces. It is quite different from that of 
Constantinople, and yet it is readily understood by 
residents of Turkey. Very little Persian is spoken, 
except at the court of the Prince, and in the upper 
circles of Persian society. It is considered by many 
an accomplishment, being a second language. Some 
of the leading business men are Armenians, and 
that tongue is not infrequently heard in the bazaar. 
Being near to the Nestor ian settlements of Salmas 
and Urumia, a goodly number of Syrians find em- 
ployment in Tabriz and use the Syriac tongue. Of 
the European languages, Russian and French lead, 
but in the banks, commercial houses, and tele- 
graph offices, English is heard, the native clerks 
having been trained in the American schools for 
boys. 

Probably the most interesting sight to the visitor 
at Tabriz is the bazaars. One cannot help being 



WESTERN PROVINCES 121 

impressed by the construction of the arches, the 
substantial character of the shops, and the general 
air of prosperity. When the writer was there, the 
streets were crowded with throngs of people from 
the surrounding country, mountaineers from Cau- 
casia, with their coats of skin, the peasant from 
the region of Mt. Ararat, merchants from Tiflis and 
other towns in ancient Georgia, a few Europeans 
with pith helmets, and the townspeople, whose dress, 
accent, and general bearing marked them out as a 
distinct class. At night these people were all care- 
ful about venturing in the streets, but, when 
they did, they carried immense lanterns of the 
Chinese variety. Here, as elsewhere in Persia, the 
size of the lantern carried indicates the rank of 
the owner. The climate is so fine that, notwith- 
standing the unsanitary conditions surrounding life 
in Tabriz, the death rate is not excessively high, and 
the Europeans find it unnecessary in summer to 
leave the city on account of the heat. 

As a place of interest, Tabriz cannot be said to 
equal Teheran. It is not, however, without some 
fine mosques, and the buildings of the government 
for the use of the Heir Apparent in the Northern 
Gardens, which are south of the city, are worth 
a visit. Here, as elsewhere in Persia, Christians 
are not allowed to enter the mosques. Indeed, 
they are more carefully guarded than in many 
other places in Persia. One of these mosques, 
called the Blue Mosque, remains a ruin, telling a 



122 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

story of the violent earthquakes that have at dif- 
ferent times shaken the very foundations of the 
city. It yet remains an imposing pile, covered with 
glazed tiles, which protect the walls and prevent 
them from disintegrating rapidly. The structure is 
said to have been built four hundred years ago, but, 
like everything else in Persia as regards time, this is 
only an approximation. 

The social life of the Europeans here centres 
around the various consulates (of which the Eng- 
lish and Russian are the most important), the Mis- 
sion, and the European business interests which con- 
trol the banks and other commercial enterprises. 
There are always a number of Europeans, who are 
employed by the government as drill-masters, in 
the customs, posts, and other official departments 
of government. 

The establishment of the consulate by the United 
States was a crying need for many years, and was 
only considered by the Washington authorities after 
one of its citizens had been murdered and the lives 
of all Americans in the province were in jeopardy. 
It is an important post, and American interests 
are made much more secure by it. Mr. Doty, 
the consul entrusted with its establishment, 
has inaugurated it with great tact and wis- 
dom, and the Stars and Stripes bid a hearty wel- 
come to all citizens of the Great Republic who may 
visit Tabriz. There are about thirty Americans, 
besides a number of children, permanently sojourn- 




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WESTERN PROVINCES 123 

ing in the western provinces that fall under the juris- 
diction of this consulate. 

The whole province of Azerbijan, of which Ta- 
briz is the centre, has been for several years past 
greatly disturbed. The caravan route to Urumia, 
and the towns west of the lake, have been for weeks 
at a time cut off by roving bands of brigands and 
robbers. The Rev. Benj. Labaree, one of the 
American missionaries, was ruthlessly murdered on 
one of these highways, while returning from es- 
corting to the frontier a party of American ladies 
on their way back to the United States. The dis- 
tance from any part of this province to Teheran is 
so great, often requiring a month to get a reply 
to letters, that our Legation found great difficulty 
in dealing with the questions arising out of this 
attack upon one of its citizens; and this led to the 
establishment of the consulate at Tabriz. Then 
there is a growing demand throughout Persia for 
certain American articles, especially our hardware, 
stoves, shoes, and carriages, and this fact may have 
served to call the attention of the Washington au- 
thorities to the need of a consul there. 

Travellers for Tabriz, Khoi, Salmas, and Uru- 
mia, the leading places in Azerbijan, leave the main 
branch of the Transcaucasian Railway at Tiflis and 
reach the Russo-Persian frontier at a place called 
Julfa, on the Aras River, by a branch line. The 
river is crossed by a crude ferry. 

The road down from Tiflis leads by Mt. Ararat, 



124 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

which now marks the corner of the three great 
divisions of the nearer East — Persia, Russia, and 
Turkey. The mountain is a magnificent peak, 
standing boldly out from the surrounding ones; it 
is snow-covered most of the year, and it is not hard 
to understand how this place has been considered 
by many as the Ararat of the Scriptures. All sorts 
of legendary narratives bearing upon the flood are 
told by the native people. The mountain may be 
seen for many miles; the writer remembers a gor- 
geous view he once got just at sunset from the high 
ranges on the road near Van. 

The journey from the frontier formerly required 
four days to Tabriz, three to Salmas, and five to 
Urumia. By the introduction of carriages on parts 
of the road, the building of some grades and the 
repair of bridges, the time has been reduced con- 
siderably. The journey from Tabriz to Urumia, 
that once took five days, is now made in half the 
time by boats on the lake. This great sheet of 
water might be of immense service to every interest 
in West Persia if navigation were permitted with- 
out taxation. The lake is ninety miles long and 
nearly thirty miles wide, surrounded much of the 
way by a fertile plain, dotted with villages. One 
strikes the lake in going to Urumia from the fron- 
tier at Salmas, and follows its west shore all the 
way to Urumia. Having no outlet, it is too salt 
for any life to be found in it. Indeed, no vegeta- 
tion grows very near to its shores, except a little 



WESTERN PROVINCES 125 

sage-brush. One bathing in the lake finds it almost 
impossible, owing to the density of the water, to 
sink. It is so loaded with various salts and charged 
with sulphur that the natives frequently bathe in 
the water just before retiring for the night, claim- 
ing that no sandfly or mosquito will come near 
them. 

As one approaches the town of Urumia, the 
road leads through one of the pleasantest parts of 
Persia. The villages are numerous; there are acres 
of all kinds of fruit-trees; fields that year after 
year yield abundant harvest of wheat and barley; 
while the hills looking out upon the blue waters 
of the lake are covered with flocks. The road winds 
in and out among the villages, which seem always 
to be watered by an abundance of pure streams 
from the melting snows. 

Many of the villages, both in the region of 
Salmas and Urumia, are Nestorian. The American 
Mission has been established in Urumia since 1835, 
and has many primary schools in these villages, 
several high schools, a college, an excellent hos- 
pital, and a printing establishment. There is also an 
English mission, founded some twenty years ago, 
and a Roman Catholic mission conducted by French 
priests. Nearly all the Christian villages have a 
church, and there has been great improvement in 
the people along social lines. 

Farther around the lake is the town of Suj Bulak, 
where there has been for some years a small colony 



126 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

of Germans engaged in philanthropic and other mis- 
sionary work. A few years ago, a German citizen, 
sojourning there for the study of the language, 
was murdered by robbers who broke into his house 
at night. To the east of the lake is the town of 
Maragha, an important centre of trade. 

This whole region falls under Russian influence, 
by the terms of the Anglo-Russian agreement of 
1907. It is one of the best parts of Persia, and 
is capable of being greatly developed commercially. 
The markets of the various towns are filled with 
Russian goods, and the people look to Russia 
largely as the power having in great measure con- 
trol over their interests. Indeed, the geographical 
location of the province of Azerbijan would seem 
to make Russian influence paramount. Turkey has 
been the only power that apparently has questioned 
Russia's right. In 1906-07, she advanced her 
troops well over the frontier and took possession of 
a large slice of Persian territory. The whole ques- 
tion is now in the hands of a commission, and it is 
not likely, for several years to come, that the com- 
mission will be able to agree. In the meantime, the 
people will welcome any power that will come in and 
restore order, render the highways safe, stay the 
hands of the Kurds from pillage, arson, and plun- 
der, and save their beautiful country from utter 
destruction. 



VIII 

KUM, SULTANABAD, AND HAMADAN 

EARLY one September, the heat having some- 
what abated, I returned with my family to 
Teheran from the little village in the Shim- 
ran where we had spent the hottest part of the sum- 
mer. Having business in Hamadan, our first duty 
upon reaching home was to prepare for the overland 
journey, of some two hundred miles or more. In 
America a journey of two hundred miles is a very 
simple affair — an afternoon's outing, a dream — but, 
in Persia, because of the lack of any modern means 
of transportation, it at once becomes a serious under- 
taking. The roads are hardly worthy of the name, 
and there are no hotels, and in many places no food, 
to be found on these overland routes through the 
country. The traveller must therefore provide him- 
self with all necessary things before he starts. In 
short, a complete camping outfit must be provided, 
and, across many of the small deserts, water as well 
as food must be carried. Then a sufficient num- 
ber of men must accompany the caravan, for it is 
no unusual happening for a few armed men to 
relieve the travellers of their loads, baggage, and 
other effects. 

127 



128 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

On this journey to Hamadan we chose the south- 
ern route via the towns of Kum and Sultanabad. 
From Teheran to Kum there is a well-made car- 
riage road, over which pass, annually, many thou- 
sands of pilgrims. The latter place is one of the 
most sacred cities in the Shiah world. The great 
mosque, with its gilded dome, is a landmark for 
travellers approaching the town from every direc- 
tion. The architecture, as seen from the outside, 
is very pleasing. All about, covering many acres, 
are the graves of those brought there for burial. 
Along the road we passed hundreds of these 
corpses, being carried on the backs of animals to 
Kum for burial, for the Moslem believes that those 
buried near this famous shrine will be among the 
first to enter Paradise at the Resurrection. It was 
a ghastly scene, the carrying of these dried bodies 
wrapped in a thick blanket, lashed on two poles 
thrown over the backs of two horses, and then at 
night to have a dozen of them piled just below one's 
window at the inn could hardly be called pleasant. 
One day we passed an old man, quite seventy years 
of age, carrying the body of his wife on the back 
of an old horse that he was leading. As he trudged 
through the dust, one could not help being touched 
by his faithfulness to the companion of his life, to 
the last carrying out of her wishes as to burial. 
When we met him, I stopped and engaged him in 
conversation, and with tears streaming down his 
face he told me that he had come from Demavend, 



KUM, SULTANABAD, ETC. 129 

a town fifty miles beyond the capital, quite alone, 
with his faithful horse, bringing the body of his 
wife to Kum for burial. Although quite seventy 
years of age, he had walked the hundred and fifty 
miles to comply with the dying request. The great 
desolation on every hand — miles and miles without 
a house, village, or sign of habitation, everywhere 
a hush and stillness, broken only by the sound of 
a passing caravan, — certainly makes it a fit road for 
the last journey of the dead. 

In all my journeyings in the Orient, I have 
rarely seen a more desolate and dreary region than 
between Teheran and Kum. At one of the great 
inns or shelters, after the sun had gone down, we 
went out on the roof to have our dinner and get a 
breath of fresh air. In this we were disappointed, 
for the heated hills near-by all night threw off their 
reflected heat, and at three in the morning we were 
glad to load our animals and push on to the next 
station, where we found cooler weather. It was at 
this last station that I went across the road to a little 
grocer's and asked him what he had to eat. He re- 
plied, " Everything; what would you like ? " Again I 
replied by asking what he had to sell. " Oh," he 
answered, " Everything." I then asked him to be 
specific, and name anything that would allay the 
pangs of hunger in his honourable establishment. 
" Well, your excellency, I have a most excellent 
quality of both watermelon and pumpkin seeds, 
roasted less than a year and a half ago, and, in 



130 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

fact, everything you want." I told him that no 
doubt his honourable pumpkin seeds were far su- 
perior to the filthy lucre, the root of all evil, an 
article that could not be mentioned in his honour- 
able presence without an apology, but it was not con- 
ducive to the repose of the blessed constitution of 
the Frangee or Occidental to feast upon such 
delicacies. I then asked him if he had such ordi- 
nary food as bread, meat, or eggs. Again the reply 
came, " I have everything except these articles 
named by you." I then called for cheese, milk, or 
fruit. Again he shook his honourable head, with 
the remark that some men have queer tastes. I 
then tried to suggest to him that he ought to keep 
some of these queer articles of food such as bread, 
meat, etc. He replied with a puzzled expression 
on his face, " Sahib, every man knows his own 
business best; but this road is only intended for 
the dead, and they require little food ! " 

After we left Kum, however, the scene changed 
and we were in a cooler region. Instead of salt 
deserts and scorching sandhills, the road entered 
the mountains, where dashing streams came rushing 
down from the snow-fields at the summit, through 
groves of trees, irrigating fertile fields in the valley 
below. As surely as the first part of our journey 
was representative of death, the latter was indica- 
tive of life. We stopped over Sunday in a large 
village, high on the mountain-side, where the scene 
reminded one not a little of some portions of the 



KUM, SULTANABAD, ETC. 131 

Alps. It was in this village that one of our party 
was awakened in the middle of the night by what 
he thought was a robber bending over the bed, 
ready to strike the fatal blow. Calling to his room- 
mate quickly to light a lamp, they found that the 
supposed robber and murderer was only a harmless 
donkey that had wandered into the room and in- 
sisted upon getting his face up against the sleeping 
traveller. 

The next day we entered the province of Irak, 
where many of the Persian carpets and rugs are 
made. In every village where we stopped we found 
a number of looms. These were worked mostly by 
women and girls, receiving not more than ten cents 
a day each, and yet the beauty and design of many 
of these rugs showed that theirs was an art equal 
to that of the painter who receives his thousands 
for a single picture. Grapes are also grown 
throughout the region and are wonderfully cheap. 
At one place we saw them being fed to a favourite 
horse, in order quickly to fatten him. In many of 
the villages we saw them making syrup and grape 
sugar. Also, not a little wine is made. But the 
chief industry is the carpet manufactures, and on 
a thousand hills may be seen the flocks that supply 
the wool for this great industry. 

At Sultanabad, the capital of the province, we had 
the pleasure of a visit to the home of Mr. Strauss, 
manager of the Ziegler Agency of Manchester, Eng- 
land, the largest exporters of carpets in Persia, 



132 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

having agencies at a half-dozen different points in 
various parts of the country. Their compound is 
filled with trees, has an abundance of water, and 
their hospitable home is always open to the weary 
traveller. We had the pleasure of visiting their 
storerooms, and looking over a large number of 
excellent carpets and rugs. They handle nothing 
but first-quality goods, dyeing their own wool and 
giving it out to the villagers who do the weav- 
ing, during the long winter days, in their homes. 
This industry furnishes employment to many peo- 
ple, and is a splendid example of what similar in- 
stitutions might do, in an industrial way, for other 
provinces. We were in perhaps a dozen villages, 
and in all of these we heard only words of praise 
for this company's fairness and generosity. Mr. 
Strauss, the local manager, and one of the stock- 
holders in the company, is also British Vice-Con- 
sul, the " Union Jack " flying over his gateway. 

Since I was there, another company, composed 
largely of Americans, has sent out agents to be 
located in the region. It is the greatest carpet dis- 
trict in all Persia. It is unfortunate that European 
and American tastes have to be met by all these 
concerns, for they have destroyed many of the more 
beautiful patterns that were formerly seen in 
abundance. This Occidental taste in the colour and 
figure of these rugs is paradoxical. For instance, 
the same person who professes to admire the old 
rugs, mild in colour, and having a small figure, 



KUM, SULTANABAD, ETC. 133 

will frequently, at the same time, demand of the 
dealer a bright red solid carpet, in every particular 
contrary to the tastes professed. Many of the rugs 
sent to America and sold at high prices are trash. 
I once saw a large rug put upon the ground in order 
to have it used constantly by frequenters of an inn, 
and so as to give it the appearance of age. It is 
frequently the case that these old rugs are bought 
in homes where patients have died from tubercu- 
losis, smallpox, or other contagious diseases. In- 
deed, not infrequently patients have died on these 
rugs, they having been used as beds. The old rugs 
are often the most beautiful and pleasing, but one 
ought to be very careful to have them thoroughly 
disinfected before taking them into the home. Fol- 
lowing the great epidemics of cholera, many of these 
rugs were put on the market, the owners having 
died. Of course, the rugs furnished by the Ameri- 
can and European firms operating in Persia are 
generally new, and have not been exposed to any 
of these things. 

It is about eighty miles from Sultanabad to Ham- 
adan. It can be made, by taking post horses and 
a carriage, in twenty-four hours. With a travel- 
ling caravan, or with one's own horses, it usually 
requires three days. Travellers for Kermanshah 
may go via Hamadan, but they usually leave the 
road at a place a little more than half-way between 
these two points. At one of the inns we were 
awakened by a wedding party, coming at midnight 



134 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

to claim the bride. At another point we met a 
band of wandering musicians who had been for 
several days at a wedding in the home of a feudal 
lord. They had been well paid for their entertain- 
ment, but had gone but one stage on their return 
to Teheran when a band of robbers had suddenly 
come down upon them and taken everything from 
them. They appealed to us, in their helplessness, 
to assist them in recovering their money and goods, 
but no one knew where the brigands had gone. 

Some nine farsakhs out from Hamadan we met 
a large landowner and were taken to his home for 
noon luncheon. His welcome was so cordial and 
his entertainment so agreeable, that upon his urging 
it was decided to spend the night at his place. It 
was just at the grape season, and the afternoon 
was spent in a lodge in a large vineyard eating 
grapes and partaking of delicious sherbets, brought 
to us by one of his many attendants. The upper- 
class Persians, of whom this man was a sample, are 
nearly always kind and hospitable to travellers and 
strangers. There is a Persian motto that says, " If 
you want to know a man, travel with him, or seek 
lodgings at his house." As well as being hospitable, 
the Persians are often very agreeable travelling 
companions. It is the sort of thing that appeals 
to their nomadic natures, and they are at their 
best out in the open air, mounted on a good horse, 
making a journey. 

There is a general ascent all the way to Ham- 



KUM, SULTANABAD, ETC. 135 

adan. The city lies on the north side of the moun- 
tain, and has during the summer months a most 
agreeable climate, but the winters are severely 
cold. The altitude being over six thousand feet, 
many foreigners find it difficult to reside there. 
There is no wall about the city, but different 
quarters of the town have large gates, which close 
the streets after nine o'clock in the evening. It is 
an important business town, being a distributing 
point for merchandise for all that part of Kurdistan 
lying to the west and south. It is also the chief 
emporium for the wild tribes of Luristan. One 
often sees in the market-place an odd mixture of 
these people from the hills, who have come in touch 
with the fringe of civilisation for the first time. 
Near the city is a large mound, upon which stood 
the palace wherein were enacted those scenes re- 
corded in the Book of Esther. This mound may 
or may not have been the site of Shushan, the 
Palace ; it would seem more likely to have been a 
summer palace rather than a winter one. At any 
rate, the tomb of Esther is there, in which the 
lights are ever kept burning by faithful Jews. 

The population of the town is probably fifty 
thousand, largely Mohammedan, although there are 
influential colonies of Armenians and Jews. Like 
all Oriental historic places, this town is wrapped 
in much obscure tradition. It was unquestionably 
the Ecbatana, the Median capital, and the Acmetha 
spoken of in Ezra. Near the city, in a gorge on 



136 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the side of the mountain, is an inscription in cunei- 
form, placed there by Darius and Xerxes. The in- 
teresting feature of this inscription does not consist 
in the fact that it was written on the rock by these 
renowned kings, nor in the fact that it was written 
in the languages of the Persians, Medians, and 
Babylonians, for these inscriptions are found at a 
half-dozen other points in Persia. The unique 
feature of this inscription rests in the fact that it 
supplied certain letters of these alphabets which 
made the great discoveries at Nineveh of use to 
the world. The modern name of the place is Ganj- 
Nomeh, ganj meaning treasure and nomeh writing. 
In all these historic points more or less jewels and 
coins are continually found, and this has led to the 
belief that some great treasure lies hidden near this 
lonely point in the mountain, on the direct highway 
between Ecbatana and Babylon. From an archaeo- 
logical standpoint it has proven a great treasure- 
house, having furnished, as I have hinted, the key 
to the rich inscriptions at Nineveh and throughout 
Assyria. 

Another show-place, or as the Persians say, 
tamashah, is the tomb of Avicenna, a celebrated 
Persian physician and philosopher, author of many 
books. History says that this now famous doctor 
was born in a mud village somewhere in Turkestan, 
that he was self-educated, that his learning and 
reputation became so great that it had a remark- 
able influence upon his profession, even among the 




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KUM, SULTANABAD, ETC. 137 

learned Greeks. But we might remark here that the 
art of surgery and the science of medicine have ad- 
vanced until the students of the American medical 
mission in Hamadan are doing work that neither 
Avicenna nor his learned Greek confreres ever 
dreamed of. 

The American Presbyterian Hospital is a mem- 
orial to a lady once deeply interested in the welfare 
of the people touched by the Mission. After 
her death her friends gave the money that erected 
the well-built brick building at the edge of the 
town, that supplies relief to thousands, who 
otherwise would have to go through life as 
sufferers. The Mission also carries forward at this 
point an excellent school for girls and another for 
boys. The work done by the different agencies 
is the great hope of this community. The Mission, 
besides raising up teachers and preachers, has edu- 
cated and launched into professional life a number 
of excellent doctors and surgeons. One of these 
is a skilled oculist. 

I must confess that it is hard for me to fancy 
Hamadan as once being the glorious capital of 
ancient Media. The people are given up to the man- 
ufacture of leather and certain coarse native cloth. 
The tanning of hides is always an insanitary indus- 
try, and especially so under the conditions in which 
one finds it done in Hamadan. About these tan- 
neries there may be found pools of the foulest 
water, and the odours of the place are most ob- 



138 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

noxious. Some of the people living near these tan- 
neries claimed that the smells kept their clocks from 
keeping the correct time! While we know this to 
be an exaggeration, one would be almost willing to 
believe it. § 

The Russians have constructed a fine modern car- 
riage road from here to Kasvin, on the Teheran- 
Caspian route. The toll charged cannot more than 
keep the route* in repair; but such a road makes 
the import of goods very easy, and one finds the 
bazaars filled with goods having the mark of Mos- 
cow upon them. The business of the place is largely 
in the hands of Armenians, and it is through 
them that Russia has her hold upon the trade. The 
manager of the English bank, however, is an Ar- 
menian, and a most excellent and worthy citizen. 

Our return was by a circuitous route, and upon 
reaching home we found that we had travelled six 
hundred miles or more. It is in some respects an 
ideal way to travel — up and on the road at the 
first peep of day, reaching the manzil or inn about 
noon, a good dinner, early to bed, and ready for 
the next day's stage of thirty miles. 

The life of the country people is always full of 
interest. At one place the village women, upon 
seeing gold in the teeth of one of the ladies, ex- 
pressed the judgment that she must be a favourite 
wife or had a very silly husband, for who would 
be stupid enough to put gold in the teeth when as 
an ornament it could be worn in a much more 



KUM, SULTANABAD, ETC. 139 

striking place? Most of the women wear their 
jewels in the shape of gold coins around the neck, 
strung on a string, like beads. But, alas! very few 
can afford anything more than a few small silver 
coins, interspersed with a few blue glass beads. 

In some ways it is a peculiarly hard life, and yet 
these village people are the most contented of any 
in Persia. Every one that can afford it has his 
little garden, with its flowers, fruit, and birds, and 
in the evening, after the day's work is over, friends 
gather in the garden around the hospitable samo- 
var, and while the hot tea, flavoured with lemon 
and citron from the garden, is being served in 
abundance with all the fruits of the season, one of 
the party reads from the poets, Hafiz or Saadi. 
I once asked a man if, after his day's work, he 
was not too tired for this sort of thing. He re- 
plied, " Sahib, in our country, when we are tired, 
we rest." Such a doctrine, in these days when we 
hear the strenuous life preached to us on all sides, 
will be considered by some as rank heresy; but it 
strikes the writer as containing a good deal of hard 
sense and no unwise philosophy. A little more day- 
dreaming and poetry instilled into our American 
life might save a lot of doctor's bills. If it were 
tried on the American farm, it might keep the sons 
from being so thoroughly inoculated with the de- 
lusions of city life. It is at least worth trying. 



IX 



PERSIAN TOPOGRAPHY AND ITS INFLU- 
ENCE ON THE PEOPLE 

I THINK that it is pretty generally recognised 
that the topography of a country has a direct 
bearing upon the lives of the people in a 
social, philosophical, and even religious way. In 
the chapters on the Kurds, we have seen how the 
rugged character has been developed by the side of 
the rugged mountain. Climate is also an important 
element in forming the lives of the people, but 
climate is often dependent upon the physical* fea- 
tures of a country. Nowhere, perhaps, in the world 
can one find greater changes of climate, in a short 
distance, than in parts of Persia. 

I can illustrate this in no better way, perhaps, 
than by telling the story of a little journey that I 
once took, in company with the Reverend Dr. Essel- 
styn of the American Mission, across the Elburz 
Mountains, on to the Caspian, and returning by the 
way of Feruz Kuh. The journey occupied one 
month, and gave us ample time to study the lives 
and character of the people of the districts through 
which we passed. 

It was getting pretty hot in May when we crossed 

140 



PERSIAN TOPOGRAPHY 141 

the Teheran plain and entered the foothills of the 
mountains at Surkh Hizar, where the Shah has a 
pavilion and large and spacious grounds. It is a 
custom of the Court to go once a year to this place, 
for a few days, to a sort of gathering like the 
barbecues known in America. Instead, however, of 
roasting large beasts, as is done in the United States 
at these gatherings, the attendants of the Court 
make a sort of soup, into which they put every kind 
of green that is thought to have any virtue as a food 
or medicine. To this mixture is added a sufficient 
quantity of some acid, to make it palatable. Some- 
times this dish must be prepared for at least five 
thousand people. All about this place are the hunt- 
ing preserves of the royal family. 

The peasants of the Teheran highlands and the 
mountains are intelligent and clever, when we con- 
sider what their opportunities in life have been. 
Physically, they are a hardy race, making long 
marches on foot, subsisting on dry bread and a few 
raisins, with a little tea, when necessary. The higher 
one gets into the mountains the more rugged be- 
comes the character of the people. On this journey 
we stopped for several days at the town of Dema- 
vend, a place of more than fifteen thousand people, 
in the beautiful valley that bears the same name. 
The weather here is cool, as we found out by re- 
maining in our tents, which we pitched near the town. 
The people of the place we found cordial, and during 
the days we were there we were overrun with call- 



142 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ers, many of whom were in sad need of proper 
medical attention. We gave out medicine to many, 
did several surgical operations, and gave cards of 
admittance to our hospital in Teheran to not a few. 
The people are industrious all through the region, 
and the waving grain gave promise of an abundant 
harvest. There were, too, acres of orchards in 
bloom, largely a variety of plum, called alloo-casy, a 
cross between the apricot and plum. This fruit is 
dried and shipped to Russia in large quantities, so 
large that the money required for payment to these 
fruit-growers has been known to affect the rate of 
exchange. 

Passing from this agricultural region, the road, 
I should say more properly the bridle-path, winds 
over high peaks until suddenly one is brought face 
to face with the great splendour of Mt. Demavend, 
which rises nearly four miles high, and seems to 
block every chance of farther travel in its direction. 
But the road creeps slowly, like a snake, in and out 
between great ravines and mighty rocks until one 
reaches the hot springs, Ob-e-gairm, some twenty- 
five miles from the town. These springs are visited 
by hundreds of invalids during the summer months. 
The water is strongly sulphur, and almost boiling 
hot. At this altitude water boils at a low tem- 
perature, and we found it very difficult to boil 
eggs or cook potatoes, without doing it under pres- 
sure. In our hospital work, even in Teheran, we 
had to use pressure in sterilising our surgical instru- 






PERSIAN TOPOGRAPHY 143 

ments and surgical dressings. But the intense heat 
of this water, surcharged with sulphur, disinfects 
the bathing pools, otherwise they would become a 
great source of all kinds of foul diseases, for hun- 
dreds with skin diseases and unmentionable ailments 
flock here for the baths. Many find the altitude 
very trying; there is always more or less rain; the 
snow-fields are near, and while the nights are almost 
freezing, the noon-day sun is terrifically hot. These 
sudden changes produce serious liver disturbances, 
and in one case, that of an Englishman, a few years 
before, had caused his death. Here the marks of 
the climate may be seen upon the people, in their yel- 
low and pinched faces. Those desiring to ascend 
Mt. Demavend usually find guides here, and start 
from this point. Not far below the sulphur or hot 
springs, in a deep ravine, are the mercurial springs 
of Ask. Those diseases requiring mercury, which 
unfortunately are found in such large numbers in 
all Persia, are greatly benefited by treatment at 
these springs. 

After leaving these regions, the road strikes 
boldly toward the Caspian, taking one through mag- 
nificent scenes of splendid mountains, built up by a 
mighty upheaval of solid rock. As the road winds 
through one of the gorges, the traveller is brought 
face to face with a modern inscription or rather a 
figure of Nasr-ed-Din Shah, carved in the rock. 
Farther down the road, the mountains are percept- 
ibly lower and covered with shrubs, which increase 



144 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

as one approaches the region of more rainfall, until, 
without hardly realising it, one finds himself in the 
great forest or jungle of the Caspian basin. 

It is impossible to give an adequate description of 
the people, especially the peasant classes, in this 
great inundated region given over to rice-growing. 
The people are short of stature, the colour of clay, 
speaking a dialect of their own, living upon boiled 
rice and sour milk, many from one year's end to 
another never tasting bread or meat, with no definite 
ideas on religion or any other subject, except those 
pertaining to the securing of sufficient food for 
themselves. The climate, being warm, much of the 
year they require little clothing. Women as well 
as men work in the fields, transplanting the rice 
from the warm bed, where it is first sown, stalk by 
stalk, into the great fields of mud. The moral con- 
dition of the people is naturally about as bad as it 
can be. 

The town of Amol, sixteen miles from the sea, 
had a railway when we were there, and, as it was 
not in operation, we made our headquarters in one 
of the rooms of the station. The man in charge 
kindly offered to send a man on foot on the hunt 
for an engine with which to take us a ride, but the 
track did not seem safe for any heavy engine to 
pass over it, to say nothing of the bridges. It seems 
that the engine had been sent down the track 
towards the sea, some days before, but as they had 
no telegraph or other means of communication, they 



PERSIAN TOPOGRAPHY 145 

depended upon a messenger, who was said to be 
swift enough to overtake a train ! 

This railroad was begun by a rich Persian mer- 
chant in Teheran, and might have been continued on 
to the Capital, had not the muleteers combined and 
petitioned the king to stop it at Amol, on the ground 
that it would throw thousands out of employment. 
Unfortunately for the country, this view was sus- 
tained. 

From Amol we made our way slowly for some 
eight or ten hours through roads that seemed to 
have no bottom, to Barfurush, the largest place in 
the province, having a population of about fifty 
thousand people. It has a large trade with Russia, and 
the Germans who control the drug trade in Persia 
have a chemist here. It ought to be a good place for 
the sale of drugs, if we may judge by the large num- 
ber of people who applied to us for treatment. 

One of the most interesting places in the town 
is an artificial island, on which is located a pavil- 
ion, surrounded by orange and lemon trees, the park 
being reached by a long brick bridge of many 
arches. The water surrounding the island was filled 
with the finest bunches of pond lilies I ever saw. 
This park and pavilion were built by Shah Abbass, 
and were used by him for a short time as a winter 
palace. It had gone down, and needed repairs 
badly; but we found it very pleasant headquarters 
during our stay in Barfurush. Before leaving 
Teheran, we had been favoured with letters from 



146 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the Prime Minister and the governor of the 
province, which greatly added to our comfort. 
Here, as elsewhere, upon arriving at a town, we 
went immediately to call upon the governor and 
presented our letters of introduction. These visits 
were always returned promptly, and we were inva- 
riably treated with much courtesy. 

Nor did we confine our visits to officials, for we 
also paid our respects to the high Mohammedan 
ecclesiastics. I especially remember our call on the 
High Priest, Sheikh-ul-Islam, at Barfurush. We 
were taken there by the Prince-Governor, who 
wished me to see him, as he was then blind from 
cataract. The subject of our conversation turned 
upon the work of the Christian Church throughout 
the world to-day. He said he had read with much 
interest the history of the Apostolic Church, but 
he knew almost nothing of modern Christianity, 
except as he had observed it among the Armenians 
and the other nominal Christian bodies in Persia. 
He seemed greatly interested in all we had to say, 
for he was a man naturally of large ideas and pur- 
poses, although a devout Mohammedan. Finally, 
the governor touched upon the question of an 
operation on his eyes. His reply was filled with 
fatalism and was as follows : " I am an old man 
with but a year or two to live, and, while my heart 
yearns for the light of day, I think the Lord has sent 
this affliction upon me. If He will remove it, my 
heart will be filled with praise and thanksgiving, 



PERSIAN TOPOGRAPHY 147 

but, if He chooses to leave me in darkness, I must 
bear it. It may be that the few years of darkness 
will make my Heavenly vision clearer and brighter." 
This is the only case of cataract, during my nearly 
twenty years in Persia, that refused an operation. 

The mosquitoes made heavy nets necessary at 
night. We found it very pleasant with our beds out 
on the bridge, but it is not a safe place, on account 
of malaria. The people were gathering the pond- 
lilies to be sent to Russia to be made into perfume. 
When gathered and dried, they were stacked like 
hay and seemed to be sufficient to perfume the 
world. 

It only takes about two hours to go from Bar- 
furush to Meshed-e-Sair, one of the principal ports 
on the Persian coast. We hired a sailboat and went 
out a mile or two, in order to get a view of Mt. 
Demavend. Although this peak is forty miles 
away, one gets the best view out at sea, where its 
full height of twenty thousand feet may be seen. At 
this port are located some large fisheries, much of 
the Russian caviare being prepared here. We got 
some very nice cans of it to take back with us to 
Teheran. The large number of boxes containing 
Russian goods being unloaded here, clearly showed 
where the north of Persia was doing its trading. 

From Meshed-e-Sair we went to Saree, the road 
for some miles being along the sandy shore of the 
sea. Sometimes we were compelled to ride a con- 
siderable distance out in the water, to get around 



148 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the mouth of some creek or mountain torrent. 
Towards noon the guide left the sea and we fol- 
lowed him through a track in the forest until almost 
dark, when we emerged into a clearing about the 
city. Here we made our manzil, in the Public 
Garden, in an upper room over the gate. The days 
passed quickly, being filled with visits and profes- 
sional and social calls. There is a long drive lead- 
ing up to the pavilion in this public garden, lined 
on either side by orange and lemon trees. The home 
of the governor-general of the province of Mazan- 
deran is here. While it is not so important as Bar- 
furush, from a commercial standpoint, the climate 
is much better. 

The next stage to Feruz Kuh required the greater 
part of three days, owing to the frightful condition 
of the road. For some distance we followed an old 
Persian highway that had been paved, but the pave- 
ment had given away, and the loose stones on top 
of a metre of mud made it very difficult for the 
horses to pick their way along. We spent Sunday 
in camp at the Place of the Lion, Shir g ah, in bed 
most of the day with umbrellas over us ! The rain 
came down in torrents until our Indian tents refused 
longer to turn water. But our faithful cook, by 
some mysterious means, prepared us a splendid 
evening meal of chicken, pilau, and curry. The 
town of Feruz Kuh takes its name from a little 
mountain near-by, which has the shape of a feruz, 
the Persian for turquoise. The summer climate is 



PERSIAN TOPOGRAPHY 149 

fine; there are broad meadows, an abundance of 
water, and it is a splendid place for a large camp, 
which, indeed, has frequently been made use of by 
the Court. 

It is twenty- four farsakhs from here to Teheran, 
or, in other words, about ninety miles, the farsakh 
being a little less than four English miles. The first 
half of the road we travelled by daylight. Finding 
a little inn we thought a desirable place to spend the 
night, we secured grass and barley for our horses, 
and spread our blankets in a wayside tea-house, ex- 
pecting to get a fairly good night's rest. But in 
this we were greatly disappointed, for in an hour or 
so the opium fumes were so offensive that we had 
to leave the place. Towards morning we mounted 
our horses and pushed on towards home. The 
waning moon was in our faces, and it so blinded 
us that we lost the road. We were suddenly 
awakened to this fact by our horses starting down a 
steep precipice near the Bomahain River. Once 
down the embankment it was quite impossible to get 
our horses back, and so we crossed over to a little 
island, there patiently to await daylight. Twice 
we heard caravans at the ford of the river just 
below us, but when we called to them to show us the 
road, they became afraid and hurried on, thinking 
that we were a band of robbers. When daylight 
came, we had no trouble to find the road, and we 
were safe at home for noon luncheon. 

It is a great contrast to turn from these people in 



150 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the forest to the province of Fars, of which Shiraz 
is the capital. Here it is claimed that the purest 
Persian is spoken, although the language of the 
Court at Teheran is considered equally good. The 
writer has never visited this region, but it has been 
his pleasure to know many people who had lived 
there, and, without exception, they were full of its 
praises. It was the home of the sweetest poets who 
ever sang in the Persian tongue. The climate is mild, 
never too hot or too cold for an outdoor life, and 
this, with the natural beauty of the place, has had 
a distinct bearing upon the people. Shiraz is known 
to all Protestants as the place where the Rev. Henry 
Martyn lived in 1811, for ten months, and during 
that time completed the first translation of the New 
Testament into the Persian language. Although he 
was in Persia for only a year, dying at Tokat in 
Armenia, in 18 12, his name will be forever insep- 
arable from Persia. For nearly seventy-five years 
his translation of the Scriptures was circulated and 
read by thousands. 

At Meshed, the most sacred city in Persia, the 
people are dependent upon travellers and have 
developed a commercial spirit. The country round 
about Meshed is barren, and, were it not a place for 
pilgrimages, it would be of no importance. The 
country and conditions have had a marked effect 
upon the people there, for amongst them no poet has 
risen to sing the praises of this sacred city of the 
Shiahs. 




TOMB OF THE POET OMAR KHAYYAM. 



PERSIAN TOPOGRAPHY 151 

Ispahan is never referred to by the Persians with- 
out a sense of pride. Situated near the centre of 
the country, with an almost ideal climate, sur- 
rounded by orchards and fertile fields and an abun- 
dance of water, it would have seemed to be the place, 
of all others, for the capital of the country. It has 
been, and doubtless will continue to be, one of the 
most important towns in Persia. Across the river 
is the large and flourishing Armenian community of 
Julfa. There are two of these towns by the same 
name in Persia, one on the Aras and the other at 
Ispahan. At the latter place most of the Europeans 
who have business in Ispahan reside. In the city 
is the large and new hospital of the Church Mis- 
sionary Society, with a capacity for nearly two hun- 
dred patients. Both England and Russia have con- 
sulates there, and those who have lived in the place 
always speak enthusiastically of its location. Under 
the Anglo-Russian agreement it falls in Russia's 
sphere of influence. It has considerable trade with 
Yezd, Kerman, Bander Abbas, Bushire, and other 
towns in the south of Persia. Nearly all the roads 
from the Gulf to the Capital pass through Ispahan. 
A new caravan route, which utilises for some dis- 
tance the only navigable river in Persia, the Karun, 
has been constructed from Ahwaz to Ispahan. This 
road greatly shortens the time for all importers who 
depend upon the southern route to get their goods 
into Teheran. 

The new road crosses the Bakhtiari hills, which 



152 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

lie to the south and west of Ispahan. By dealing 
wisely and prudently with the tribes, this route has 
been made quite safe. Formerly, it was not con- 
sidered possible to cross these hills with any degree 
of safety. In Luristan, a few years ago, two Eng- 
lish officers were attacked in their tent and both 
shot, though fortunately not fatally. Like the 
Kurds, these hill people, instead of being given up 
to the study of philosophies and mysticisms, are 
men of action. It makes all the difference in the 
world to men socially, mentally, physically, and 
often religiously, whether they are dwellers on the 
hot plains or have their abodes in the mountains, 
where the climate is colder and the blood flows 
freer. 



X 

CONCERNING THE LANGUAGES, RELI- 
GIONS, AND PHILOSOPHIES OF PERSIA 

IN the sense that English is the national tongue 
in America, Persia cannot be said to have a 
language. While most of the books are written 
in Persian, and that is the tongue at the Capital and 
throughout the eastern and southern half of the 
country, it has a close rival in the Tartar Turkish, 
spoken throughout the western provinces. In 
Kurdistan, one hears little else but the Kurdish, 
while in the Armenian and Nestorian districts those 
tongues are used almost exclusively. The Parsees 
use, amongst themselves, a dialect of the ancient 
Persian, while the Jews use what they call modern 
Hebrew. In Mazanderan, Ghilan, Luristan, and the 
Bakhtiari country different dialects of the Persian 
are spoken. In writing these languages, the Arabic 
character is used now by all, except the Armenians, 
Nestorians, and Jews. The Jews, in writing to one 
another, commonly use the Persian language, but 
with the Hebrew character. As most of the 
Persians who find their way to the United States 
are from the western provinces, very few of them 
know the Persian well enough to speak it. 

153 



154 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

The Persian language has been called the French 
of the East. It is rich in polite and poetic phrases, 
lends itself readily to diplomatic use, and is not un- 
pleasant to the ear of a Westerner. Many of the 
idioms, so pleasing to the Persian, cannot be readily 
translated into English. For instance, a servant 
sent on an errand to the home of a neighbour, would 
not ask, " Is Mr. X. at home ? " but would politely 
inquire " if Mr. X. has his dignity or honour/' If he 
were told that such a condition existed, before stat- 
ing his errand, he would say, " My master sends 
great peace to him, and commands your servant to 
present the following petition/' In addressing a 
servant, one does not use the same terms that are 
used in addressing one's equal or superior. For 
instance, one can ask a servant if " his nose is fat," 
meaning is he well, and be considered quite polite. 
On the other hand, if he were calling on a high 
official it would be considered much better form to 
say, " If the Lord wills, the blessed constitution of 
your excellency is reposing in a serene condition." 
The reply would at once be given, " Since seeing 
you, such is the case." 

Rich as the Persian is in diplomatic and poetic 
words and phrases, it is almost sterile in phrases 
and words common to all forms of Christian wor- 
ship. It does not lend itself readily to Christian 
prayer. In this respect, it is very different from 
the Armenian, Nestorian, and Hebrew. The Ar- 
menian, and modern Syriac, the languages of the 






LANGUAGES, ETC. 155 

Nestorians, are wonderfully rich in words express- 
ing praise, thanksgiving, confession, adoration, and 
worship. In these languages is now found a fairly- 
good literature of religious, scientific, and other 
works. 

Mohammedanism was hardly inaugurated until 
there arose divisions that have continued until the 
present day. The first great division was not along 
theological lines, but over the question of the suc- 
cessor to Mohammed, and resulted in a grand divi- 
sion of the Mohammedan world into two great 
branches, known as Sunnee and Shiah. The Sun- 
nees are the Mohammedans under the Sultan of 
Turkey, while a branch of the Shiahs make up very 
largely the population of modern Persia. Between 
these two branches of Mohammedanism there is lit- 
tle in common, and often marked hatred and rivalry. 
As the Sultan exercises authority over their sacred 
cities of Mecca, Medina, and Kerbela, the Persians 
are forced to use not a little diplomacy in making 
their pilgrimages to these places. Besides these 
cities, so sacred to all branches of Islam, there is 
little to bind the Turk and Persian together. 

The vitality of Mohammedanism in Persia seems 
much less strong than in Turkey. On the surface, 
it might appear that the Persians are more fanatical 
than the Turks, but such is not the case. While the 
Turk will allow a Christian to visit his mosque, the 
fact that the Persian does not allow this only means 
that he has come in contact with fewer Christians 



156 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

from the Western world. As time goes on, this 
right will not only be accorded Christians, but may- 
be urged upon them. 

Before touching upon some of the theological 
questions that have divided the Shiah world, let us 
consider for a little while certain duties and prac- 
tices that are in a general way accepted by all. These 
rites centre about the months of Moharram, Safar, 
and Ramazan. As the Mohammedan calendar is 
based upon the lunar month, the time of these re- 
ligious festivals changes. 

Moharram, the month of mourning, is universally 
kept by all classes, in memory of the martyrs 
Hosein and Hassan. Every one, from the king 
down to the poorest, puts on black. Not the simple 
crape on the sleeve, but, regardless of the heat, all 
who can afford it put on a full suit of black. Even 
little children employed in the street to chant the 
names of Hassan and Hosein are enveloped in 
sombre colours. Little black flags over many door- 
ways serve as an invitation to the passer-by, that 
" daily readings/' a sort of cottage prayer-meeting, 
is being held for the public. At these meetings, the 
priest reads from the Koran, recites poems touching 
upon the life and character of their martyrs, and 
follows these with an exhortation that generally 
meets with a response on the part of the audience, 
of tears and amens. 

The religious leaders are supplemented in their 
endeavours to keep the tragic death of these early 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 157 

leaders fresh in the minds of the people by the 
theatre. The Taziyeh, or theatre, in Persia, is used 
exclusively for the presentation of the religious 
drama. The first ten days of the month of Mohar- 
ram are given up to the serious presentation of 
scenes of the early days of Mohammedanism, touch- 
ing upon the life of the two great martyrs. After 
the tenth day, the play takes on a lighter character, 
and often drifts into comedy. Nearly every village 
has one of these theatres, often used at other times 
as a market-place, where, for four weeks of the 
year, daily performances are given. One of the 
landmarks of Teheran is the Imperial Theatre, 
where, at great expense, these plays are produced. 
It is in this theatre that the late Shah was tempo- 
rarily buried. The sacred character of the place is 
rendered secure by the enactment of such scenes as 
are portrayed by the story of Adam and Eve, Cain 
and Abel, Joseph and his Brethren, and Hagar and 
Ishmael, as well as those later ones told only in Mo- 
hammedan histories. 

Although these plays are very ambitious, they 
are often most crude. However, the horses with 
their rich caparisons, the sound of the bugle, the 
great crowds of people, often covering the neigh- 
bouring housetops, give a striking and spectacular 
air to it all. But, more than this, it appeals mightily 
to the religious sentiments of the people and pre- 
pares them for the tenth, to them the most important 
day of the month. On this day, the anniversary of 



158 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the death of the martyrs, every place of business in 
all Persia is closed. The morning is given up to 
great processions moving through the streets, com- 
posed of men and boys dressed in white, carrying 
swords, with which they inflict deep gashes into 
their shaven heads. Others, with bare chests, strike 
themselves with pieces of chain or with their 
hands, calling in unison the names of the martyrs. 
Other bands, made up of boys and some men, are 
content to carry banners and cry the names of 
Hosein and Hassan. As a rule, Europeans find it 
pleasanter and safer to remain indoors on the day 
of this religious celebration. The writer has wit- 
nessed these scenes in various places throughout the 
country, but nowhere were they equal in fanaticism 
and severity to Tabriz. Everywhere these celebra- 
tions are becoming less popular, and as education 
and enlightenment come, we may expect their disap- 
pearance. 

The month of Safar follows Moharram, and is 
a favourite month for pilgrimages to Kum, Meshed, 
and Kerbela. These journeys to the nearer shrines 
are often extended to Mecca and Medina. As the 
system of Islam is based in a large measure upon 
what the Persian calls savob, which may be translated 
to mean " merit," these sacrifices made by long pil- 
grimages to the tomb of the saints are supposed to 
be especially efficacious. Often the savings of years 
are spent on one of these journeys, the pilgrim re- 
turning home to spend his declining days in poverty. 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 159 

One old woman was treated by doctors from the 
hospital, who sold all her household goods at the age 
of seventy, made a pilgrimage to one of the shrines, 
and, when found, she said she had returned penni- 
less and ill. This frequently happens. 

The Sayids, a class claiming to be the direct 
descendants of Mohammed, often act as substitutes 
for business men and others who cannot con- 
veniently make such a journey. By paying the ex- 
penses of one of this special class, their merit is 
greater than it would have been had they made the 
journey themselves. Not infrequently one of these 
men will marry a sayid temporarily and send her on 
one of these pilgrimages, to be divorced upon her 
return. If this is done, the woman is almost always 
well along in years, often quite old. Sometimes the 
larger part of the male population of a village will 
go on one of the pilgrimages, leaving their fields un- 
tilled, and sometimes their families not provided 
for. 

But this idea of merit, which permeates almost 
every sect in Persia, prompts many acts of charity. 
It is only a question of time when the spirit that now 
exhibits itself by making long pilgrimages and 
other useless expenditures of strength and money, 
will be turned towards the establishment of hospi- 
tals or other eleemosynary institutions, just as the 
Christian world has largely given up pilgrimages to 
Jerusalem. 

From the month of Safar to the month of fast- 



160 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ing, Ramazan, is half a year. No heavier duty is 
imposed by Mohammedanism upon its followers 
than keeping this fast from sun up till sun down 
for a whole month. Upon the rich, who can turn 
night into day and day into night, it is not a severe 
ordeal. If the month falls in the winter time, when 
the days are short, it is not especially trying for the 
labouring man. But if it falls during the long hot 
summer days, it is very hard on those who must 
labour in the sun from early morning until late in 
the evening, without food or drink. Those who are 
given over to the use of tobacco claim that their 
hardest trial is to abstain from the use of that weed. 
Many of these labourers find a stimulant in the use 
of a dozen cups of tea during the day, and this, too, 
is a sore deprivation. 

At other times during the Mohammedan year, 
there are numerous festivals and celebrations. I 
shall only mention one, called the Sacrificial Festival, 
Kurban Beiram. The best place to witness this is 
in the public square just in front of the Parliament 
House in Teheran. The sacrifice is said to have 
been of Hebrew origin, dating back to the offering 
of Ishmael by Abraham, the Mohammedans claim- 
ing that Ishmael, and not Isaac, was the one offered. 

Great crowds assemble long before the hour when 
the camel, intended for the sacrifice, is brought 
forth. The trappings of the camel are always of the 
finest, and the poor beast walks into the square 
proudly, little suspecting what awaits him. It is an 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 161 

unwritten law that the one who kills the beast shall 
have his request complied with, and that attracts 
many to the place, having some request or griev- 
ance to bring to the attention of the authorities. 
When the signal is given, these men fly at the throat 
of the camel, and he is soon finished. It is a bloody 
and savage scene, and yet it attracts not only a 
Persian crowd, but also many gentlemen and ladies 
from the European colony. 

The ecclesiastical body governing the Mohamme- 
dans in Persia is a well-organized band of men 
whose discipline is not to be questioned by the faith- 
ful. From the chief mujtehid, whose abode is at 
Kerbala, down to the lowest order of the mollahs, 
the people are called upon for support. This income 
must often be supplemented by writing legal docu- 
ments or teaching, and in the villages a glebe is fur- 
nished. There is also a tax upon legacies and the 
transfer of real estate, called the khums, that is de- 
voted to religious purposes. 

The wandering dervishes, or religious men- 
dicants, whom one sees in the streets and about the 
cafes, all belong to a mysterious organisation hav- 
ing, it is said, its headquarters in Ispahan. Their 
dress, consisting often of skins, their dishevelled 
hair, their great clubs, and their unique receptacle 
for alms, make them striking figures. They may 
be often seen asleep on the doorstep when the 
weather is severely cold, oblivious to all the elements, 
having taken a heavy dose of opium or Indian 



162 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

hemp. Some writers have thought that they were 
the religious leaders of the people, but such is not 
the case. They are the religious tramps and wander- 
ers of the Orient, with little or no influence. 

While there are a number of theological schools 
where the religious leaders may be trained along 
Mohammedan lines, throughout the country, most 
of the teaching is done at the mosques, and very 
naturally partakes very largely of the views of the 
instructors. One of these priests will write out his 
views and have his students copy them for future 
reference. If the views are strikingly different from 
what are considered orthodox, the result is a new 
sect. Some of these have grown until their adher- 
ents number a host of followers; but most of these 
new sects die in infancy. 

The one belief in which all unite is that a great 
prophet is yet to come and unite the Mohamme- 
dans. Some claim that it will be the return of 
Mohammed, while others hold different views con- 
cerning this event that is confidently expected 
throughout the Mohammedan world. They agree, 
however, that his name will be El Mahde. 

Just as the Christian world has been looking for 
the second coming of Jesus Christ to have absolute 
power over the world, so the Persians have been 
looking for the Mahde. From time to time various 
ones have proclaimed themselves the true prophet 
that the people were expecting. It remained, how- 
ever, for one Mirza Ali Mohammed, a son of a 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 163 

shopkeeper in Shiraz, from 1820 to 185 1, to con- 
vince any large portion of the population that his 
claim to this high office could be established beyond 
a doubt. He gave himself the name of the Bab, 
pronounced Bob, and in the Arabic meaning 
"door" or "gate/' and called himself a dervish. 
He clothed himself in sheep-skins at first, and went 
about the country with the modest claim that he was 
only the forerunner of the true prophet. His ear- 
nestness seems to have convinced some of the re- 
ligious leaders of the genuineness of his claim, and 
this appears to have had a mighty influence upon 
the opinions of the common people concerning him. 
Before the government was aware of it, the new 
doctrine had taken hold upon a large number of peo- 
ple who were enthused with it. Then followed 
years of persecution, often most bitter, and as is 
frequently the case when any sect is persecuted, the 
scattering of those who believed was but the send- 
ing of missionaries into every corner of the coun- 
try. The tension between the followers of the Bab 
and the authorities became so marked that an at- 
tempt was made by them upon the life of the Shah. 
This was a year after the Bab had been put to 
death at Tabriz, in 1850. It is said that at the ex- 
ecution a rope was placed about his neck and was 
drawn tightly by soldiers behind the wall over 
which the rope had been thrown. As he was drawn 
against the wall, soldiers were ordered to fire, and, 
instead of killing him, the rope was cut and he fell 



164 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

to the ground unharmed. Had he had the presence 
of mind to declare himself proof against attacks 
upon his life, he might have been saved, for the 
people are often superstitious, and none of them 
more so than the soldiers. However, his nerve after 
three years of imprisonment had left him, and he, 
greatly frightened, was unable to speak. The execu- 
tion was then carried out. 

Among the followers of this man was one Mirza 
Hosein Ali, whose home had been in Mazanderan, 
where some of the fiercest and crudest persecutions 
had been inflicted. He left the country, but was 
later arrested in Constantinople and taken to a fort- 
ress in northern Syria. He pointed out that his 
predecessor, who had been executed in Tabriz, had 
during his early years only claimed to be the fore- 
runner of the true prophet, and that he was the ex- 
pected one. This profession seems to have been 
largely accepted by many who visited him and over 
whom he exercised a strange hypnotic influence. In 
his prison home he received the homage, and no 
small amount of money, from his followers, who 
ostensibly went on pilgrimages to Mecca, but in fact 
visited Akka. 

This movement has extended itself all over 
Persia, and even into the New World, a propaganda 
being in Washington. In 1906, a band of American 
converts appeared in Teheran and later went on to 
Ispahan to study and direct the movement. It is 
hard to see how any American could accept certain 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 165 

of its doctrines or many of its practices. These 
Americans soon took this view, and, after a few 
months, withdrew from the country. Like many of 
these Oriental philosophies, Babism had been 
painted quite rose coloured, and did not seem un- 
suited to Americans — when presented in a drawing- 
room around the teacups. 

After having had many conversations with fol- 
lowers of the Bab in Persia, the writer must confess 
that he has found it rather difficult to understand 
any very definite principles or teachings for which 
they stand. It seems to be a strange mixture of 
Christianity, Mohammedanism, and Judaism, fla- 
voured with the philosophies and vague ideas of the 
poetic mind of the Persian. It is an ethical teach- 
ing, and not a religion. The very fact that it re- 
ceives members holding almost any sort of views has 
made it popular, and accounts in a large measure for 
its growth. Its converts from Islam and Judaism 
still practise polygamy, while its few converts from 
Christianity do not. And so it is, in almost every- 
thing connected with it, that men believe as they like 
and do as they please. 

Many of its followers are from the better classes 
of society, and the movement has broken the hold 
Islam has had for centuries upon the people. Many 
of the leaders in the reform movement which ended 
in the establishment of the constitution, have been 
tinged with this faith. It is a conservative estimate 
to say that there are five hundred thousand Babees 



166 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

in all Persia. Of course, it is quite impossible to 
know just how many there are, for, like all things 
Oriental, the number has been greatly exaggerated. 

A very good story is told by one of the mission- 
aries who had been taken for an English business 
man. The Babee missionary approached him, de- 
siring to discuss " the faith," and after a good deal 
of talk he declared that the earth was filled with 
"the doctrine." "Why," he said, " Mr. S., the 
American missionary, is doing the doctrine." 
" Does he not preach as usual ? " was asked. " Oh, 
yes," came the reply; " our religion does not inter- 
fere with a man's regular duties in life." " Are you 
sure Mr. S. holds to your faith? " was asked. " I 
am quite sure of it," came the reply. " Well, I am 
not," said the gentleman, " for I happen to be none 
other than Mr. S., and I certainly hold views very 
different from those accepted by you ! " 

The Babists, or Babees, as they are called in 
Persia, being a sect of purely Mohammedan origin, 
have found it difficult to get any sort of recognition 
at the hands of the government. Their meetings 
are held in secret, and their propaganda is carried 
forward so quietly that it is difficult to know who 
belongs to the movement. One of the leaders, how- 
ever, has expressed the hope that the liberal reform 
movement in Persia will give them an opportunity 
to establish places for public worship. It is a ques- 
tion, however, whether or not such a move would 
strengthen them, since persecution, secret meetings, 



LANGUAGES, ETC, 167 

and mysterious rites have attracted many of those 
dissatisfied with the old order of things. 

The sect known as Ali Allahees, a considerable 
number of whom are found throughout the Turk- 
ish-speaking villages, deny any connection with 
modern Mohammedanism. They hold that Ali was 
divine in nature. Their forms and ceremonies par- 
take largely of the ancient Parsees' ideas concern- 
ing the sacredness of fire as a symbol of worship. 
Many of the nomadic tribes throughout Persia hold 
to this faith, and, being a people whose life is spent 
in the open air, they are often found to be among 
the most noble in character in the country. They 
have been confused by some writers with certain 
gipsy tribes in Persia, but they are a totally differ- 
ent people. 

The Persian literalists, known as the Mutashara- 
hees, claim to adhere to the letter of the Koran. 
Both physically and mentally, they differ from other 
sects, having their origin in Mohammedanism. As 
a rule, they are given up to the study of works on 
theology and mythology, and present an interesting 
psychological study. 

Another sect found scattered throughout the 
country are the Sheikees, who exclude every form 
of reason as having any direct bearing upon their 
faith. Everything accepted by them is by direct 
revelation. They even carry this into their explana- 
tions for all the usual physical phenomena. The 
writer was once asked by a doctor, while crossing 



168 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the bay at Enzeli, to explain the rainfall, which is 
always very heavy there. After the usual explana- 
tion concerning this question had been given, one of 
the gentlemen on the boat, who had listened atten- 
tively, resented very warmly the acceptance of such 
a theory. He said rain is only one of many of God's 
mercies, and, being a revelation of His graciousness 
to men, any attempt to explain it from a physical 
standpoint was wrong. The fact that some regions 
in Persia have an abundance of rain while others 
have almost none, did not seem to trouble him. 
When his attention was called to this fact, he 
simply said it could not be explained. 

There are other interesting sects having their 
origin in the Shiah faith, but enough has been said 
to give the reader a general idea of the religious life 
of the Persian Mohammedan. It only remains to 
speak of his attitude toward his non-Moslem neigh- 
bour. The fact that they consider him a defiled 
creature, and food touched by him is not to be eaten 
by them, are mere incidents in the great struggle 
that had its origin in Abraham's household, when 
Sarah, in her wrath, cast out the bondwoman and 
her son. From this time forward, we find two dis- 
tinct Abrahamic nationalities, the sons of Isaac, on 
the one hand, and those of Ishmael, on the other. 
From Abraham's household sprang the two great 
systems of monotheistic religion, Christianity and 
Mohammedanism. The head of the former is Jesus 
Christ, the son of Abraham and of Isaac, the 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 169 

founder of the other was Mohammed, the son of 
Abraham and Ishmael. These two opposing per- 
sonages and nationalities have continued to grow 
apart, until the last century, each believing that they 
shall conquer the world. Never in the history of the 
world has there been a family quarrel so far-reach- 
ing in its influence and effect upon the nations of the 
earth. Those who have made a close study of the 
great underlying principles of Mohammedanism are 
not inclined to think that its strong hold upon the 
people is due to its form of government and general 
attitude towards morals, but rather to the better 
principles in the system, nearly all of which they 
have borrowed from Christianity and Judaism. 
They claim Abraham as their father, and through 
him the special favour of God, and hope for a dwell- 
ing with him in the world to come. They profess, 
and unquestionably have, a firm belief in the only 
true God. They believe in the Judgment Day, when 
the rewards and punishments for deeds done in this 
life will be bestowed. They deny that the Chris- 
tians have the Word of God, claiming that the true 
records of Christ are not now available. They 
further deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, although 
they are willing to consider Him one of their holy 
men. 

The simple forms of religion, inaugurated by the 
founder of this faith, have been supplemented by 
tradition and special interpretations until it has 
worked out an elaborate system of ritual and cere- 



170 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

mony. But the practices of the faith are : i. Con- 
fession of faith in God, and that Mohammed is His 
apostle; 2. Prayer, usually five times a day; 3. 
Fasting during the month of Ramazan and at other 
stated times; 4. Pilgrimages to Mecca and other 
sacred shrines; 5. The acceptance of the Koran, to- 
gether with meritorious works. They do not accept 
the atonement of Christ, and, consequently, often 
resort to the sacrifices of lambs, and sometimes of 
bullocks. 

That there is a great evolution taking place, that 
is destined ultimately to bring the East to know the 
West, cannot, I think, be denied. The attitude of the 
Persians toward Europeans has been quite as polite 
as that of many Europeans towards them; but, not- 
withstanding unpleasant incidents that are bound to 
arise, for many years to come, the deep-rooted 
prejudice against the Christian is certainly becom- 
ing less. When we remember that it is four thou- 
sand years old, the progress made during the last fifty 
years is little less than marvellous. This statement 
is supported by the history of the nominal Christian 
colonies of Armenians and Nestorians under 
Persia's rule. When we remember that it is less 
than fifty years since a Nestorian was safe in riding 
a horse (they were expected to go on foot by their 
Moslem neighbours) and then recall the many well- 
to-do and substantial Nestorian citizens in and about 
Urumia to-day, we can understand better how 
palpable has been this progress. 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 171 

The Armenian communities throughout Persia 
are generally allowed complete liberty of conscience, 
and are as secure as their Moslem neighbours as re- 
gards property rights. Of course, toleration is al- 
ways humiliating to a proud people, always uncer- 
tain, and may become a stumbling block. It is not 
free from danger, because an imprudent act, such 
as a rash word spoken against the Moslem's reli- 
gion, may result in great persecution to an entire 
colony. It should be said to the Persians' credit 
that they have never permitted such scenes as the 
Armenian massacres that took place in Turkey a 
few years ago. 

In all the larger places, the Armenian merchants 
are an important element in all business affairs. 
They support schools for their children, sustain 
churches, and are frequently very substantial and 
prudent citizens. Unfortunately, they are often the 
wine-sellers of the community, and, in a Mohamme- 
dan land, a few of this class will bring opprobrium 
upon all. Not a few of them are under Russian pro- 
tection, and much of their trade is with that 
country. 

There are supposed to be twenty-five thousand 
Jews in all Persia, and upon them has been visited, 
as upon no others, the hatred of Hagar's descend- 
ants. Much of the persecution that has fallen upon 
them is of their own making. They are experts in 
all work connected with precious metals and stones, 
excellent business men, and in many other lines of 



172 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

trade they could succeed. Unfortunately, they are 
the makers of much wine and arrak, the pedlers of 
much medicine, that does little good and much 
harm, the sellers of spurious ancient coins and rugs 
of little value, while many of the women are mid- 
wives who practise in many ways that are ques- 
tionable. 

The dead are not allowed burial near a Moslem 
graveyard, and in most places they have their own 
forlorn burial-place, in many of which they are not 
allowed to mark their graves. They are compelled 
to live in a separate quarter of the town, under the 
official care of some Mohammedan, responsible to 
the government for their taxes and incidentally for 
their conduct. This officer pays a sum into the pub- 
lic treasury and collects what he can from the 
people. We can be sure he collects plenty, although 
he is not always able to afford them protection. 

A few years ago, there arose a persecution 
against the Jews throughout Persia, resulting in an 
order compelling them to wear a patch of red on 
their sleeves, so that others might not be defiled by 
touching them. Of course, such an order could not 
be carried out fully, but for some time the lowly 
ones found this humiliation easier to bear than the 
persecution that was showered upon them when 
they went without the patch. 

They are not allowed to use water from the tanks 
of the Mohammedans, and in the Jewish quarter in 
Teheran there is a great cistern which is filled for 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 173 

them every three or four months. It so happened 
that this cistern was filled just before the great out- 
break of cholera, in 1904. As this water was clean, 
and they were not permitted to drink from other 
places, their quarter of the city, although the 
filthiest, was almost free from the scourge. Indeed, 
no cholera would have appeared in the quarter 
had not they gone out and bought some cheap 
carpets, which had been used as beds by cholera 
patients. 

While they are despised, beaten without cause by 
any one who chooses to do so, downtrodden and 
oppressed, I have yet to see a stupid Jew in Persia. 
Among them are not a few of as honourable and 
upright men as one finds anywhere. They are 
especially clever in medicine, and one of them 
assisted me for eleven years in my surgical work at 
the hospital. This gentleman had the esteem and 
confidence of the entire community, regardless of 
religious affiliation, and deservedly so. The hope 
of the Jewish communities in Persia rests with such 
men. The social changes must begin in the homes 
of the people. A higher standard of life must be 
theirs, before they can command the respect of any 
class of citizens. At present, they are the most 
needy people in Persia, and at the same time are the 
least conscious of their needs. 

The representatives of the most ancient religion 
in Persia, the religion to which one of the Wise Men 
who went to visit the Christ probably belonged ; the 



174 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

religion whose history can be traced back into the 
times when no records were kept except by the ever- 
lasting ash-hills upon which they kept their fires 
burning for ages, number but a few thousand to-day 
in Persia. I refer to the sect that is usually called 
" Fire Worshippers," but more properly Parsees or 
Guebers. They are not regarded by their Moham- 
medan neighbours with hatred. Of course, there 
have been outbreaks against them, especially in 
Yezd and other places, but these had their origin in 
the desire for loot and gain. Communities of Par- 
sees are found at Teheran, Ispahan, Kashan, Yezd, 
Kerman, and at other points. 

They dislike very much to be called " Fire Wor- 
shippers," although they still have such reverence 
for fire that few of them are cooks, and many will 
not smoke a pipe. In appearance, they are not 
unlike the Persians, but their speech always betrays 
them, as it seems next to impossible for them to 
speak the modern Persian without accent. A good 
many of them have become Mohammedans, but, 
unlike the Jews, very few seem to have gone with 
the Babee movement. A considerable number are 
engaged in trade, while the labourers make most ex- 
cellent gardeners. Very few of the fine gardens in 
Teheran are without some Gueber. 

It is very difficult for those who have studied their 
system most to form very definite ideas of their 
belief. In this, there is a marked contrast when 
compared with Mohammedanism. The founder of 



LANGUAGES, ETC. 175 

the sect is supposed to have been Zardosht; but 
when and where he lived does not seem to be clear. 
Its mysterious rites and lack of definite principles 
have made it impossible to withstand the aggres- 
sive advances of Islam. As one travels through the 
country he will see those great mounds of ashes 
that were once their altars for worship. The great 
oil-wells at Baku, on the Caspian, are still held in 
reverence by many of the peasantry, and formerly 
were visited by many of the more religious of this 
sect. 

This sect is known everywhere for its benev- 
olence, and as being the most truthful of any of 
Persia's ancient peoples. Although the most ex- 
clusive, they are at the same time the most liberal, 
in many ways, of any people the writer has met in 
Asia. Not infrequently have they contributed to 
philanthropic movements without being asked, 
and are known as the friends of hospitals and 
schools. 

In Teheran, they support a primary and inter- 
mediate school. In this school, it is understood that 
the belief in the existence of one supreme God, the 
immortality of the soul, and the merits of good 
works, are taught. 

There is unquestionably amongst them a reveren- 
tial regard for the natural elements, and this is 
probably why they prefer to expose the bodies of 
their dead on the towers of silence, to the usual cus- 
tom of burial. The large and influential body of 



176 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Parsees in Bombay keeps a delegate in Teheran to 
look after the welfare of their people. Being an 
English subject, he is in a position often to render 
help, counsel, and, when required, protection to his 
people. 



XI 



LIFE AMONG THE UPPER AND BETTER 
CLASSES 

THERE is nothing in Persia that counts for 
more than shan, and is at the same time 
quite so cheap. This word, which is in- 
tended to designate one's standing in the commu- 
nity, seems to embody dignity, honour, grace, 
culture, and wealth. Moral worth may or may 
not enter into the question of a man's shan, and the 
same may possibly be said of culture, although 
Persian etiquette is proverbial. 

Nearly everybody in Persia has a prefix to his 
name. Very few have surnames, for there are no 
family names to hand down from one generation 
to another where polygamy exists. I think it is quite 
safe to say that ten per cent, of all the male popula- 
tion in Persia bear the name of Ali, and an equal 
number probably have the name of Hosein and of 
Hassan. They are very fond of combining these 
names, and one frequently hears, for example, Ho- 
sein Ali and other combinations. 

This, however, is not sufficient to satisfy the shan 
of the individual, and so other higher and more noble 
titles are sought. The man or woman who makes a 

177 



178 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

pilgrimage to the shrine of the Mohammedan Saint, 
Imam Riza, at Meshed, is forever afterwards to be 
known as Meshedi. If his name happens to 
be AH, woe unto the man who calls him anything 
after his pilgrimage but Meshedi Ali. The same 
is true of the greater shrine at Kerbela, for pilgrims 
who have made that journey are forever after en- 
titled to the title of Kerbeli, which they place be- 
fore their name. The highest religious title is that 
of the Hadji, which adheres to those who have been 
to the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina. 

The title of Khan is one conferred by the gov- 
ernment, and is one of the commonest in the 
country. It was formerly given only to those high 
in authority, but being hereditary for a generation 
or two, the country is full of men claiming this 
title. Often servants, sons or grandsons of some 
one who had the title, must be addressed as Khan. 
In this case, if Ali happens to be the Khan, the 
name would precede the title, and he would be 
known as Ali Khan. His shan would be a trifle 
higher than the other servants', although his duties 
might be menial. This is one of the few titles that 
may be conferred by the provincial governors. 
Some of the higher of these officials sometimes give 
the title of " Excellency," and the favoured one is 
forever after known as Genobby Awlee, So and So. 
Governors are also not infrequently called upon 
to certify to a doctor's ability as a practitioner, 
and they have been known to give the title of M.D. 



AMONG THE UPP ER CL A S S E S 179 

to some favourite follower of the healing art. 
Such a certificate would probably say that the 
bearer is entitled to be forever afterwards classed, 
because of his wisdom, skill, and cleverness, with 
Avicenna, Plato, and Hippocrates. Young doctors 
going into a community immediately seek an en- 
dorsement by the governor. 

The usual name for a medical man is hakim, al- 
though the French title of docteur is now preferred 
by many. By the true Persian, one of the better 
class of practitioners is known as the hakim bashi, 
while the European or American doctor is usually 
addressed as hakim sahib. Among the medical pro- 
fession are many having titles, indicating usually 
their shan, and we may say, too, not infrequently 
their financial standing. 

The two great titles in Persia centre about the word 
Molk and Dovleh, the former meaning " King- 
dom/' and the latter " Government." For instance, 
the title Emin-itl-Molk would mean, " The Faith- 
ful of the Kingdom," while Emin-e-Dovleh would 
mean, " The Faithful of the Government." As a 
rule, the title of Dovleh is considered higher than 
that of Molk. 

The decorations and medals conferred are in a 
separate class, and can only be given by the Crown. 
The order of the Lion and the Sun is the one con- 
ferred upon foreigners, and consists of four de- 
grees, first, second, third, and fourth. The first is 
rarely conferred upon any but high diplomatic offi- 



180 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

cers, exceptions to this rule having been rare. The 
well-known American missionary, Dr. George W. 
Holmes, was one of these exceptions. The second 
degree is the one usually given to doctors or other 
scientific men, in recognition of special service, and 
to certain classes of governmental officers. The 
third class is given more frequently to the heads 
of departments in the Persian service; while the 
fourth and lowest is reserved as a convenient way 
of showing appreciation for any and all kinds of 
service rendered by foreigners. 

The granting of these decorations is becoming 
more and more guarded, especially since the in- 
auguration of the National Assembly. 

With all these titles it naturally follows that there 
must be much ceremony and etiquette from the 
Court down to the humblest citizen. No matter 
what hour of the day the caller appears, he must 
be offered a cup of tea. This is the national drink, 
and is served usually in small glasses, with sugar, 
no milk or cream, often with a slice of lemon, and 
if not the fresh fruit a dash of juice from a bottle 
is offered the guest. In making formal calls, three 
cups of tea are served, and then a small cup of 
Turkish coffee, which means that the ceremonies are 
finished. Before leaving, the guest must ask, " May 
we now be excused ? " The answer is often, " The 
house is yours, exercise your own will." 

The difficulty in writing letters is in getting the 
title high enough. No one ever complains or feels 



AMONG THE UPPER CLASSES 181 

hurt at any extravagance in high-sounding names 
and titles. They may be meaningless, and yet they 
have their place in the Persian social world. So 
common are they in the commercial and political 
world that they are passed over without reading, 
while the Westerner looks upon them as childish 
flattery. It is not unusual for a letter to begin, 
" His Exalted Highness, the learned One and Pillar 
of all Knowledge whose mentality is greater than 
that of Ailatoon (Plato); the Incomparable whose 
virtues have filled the earth and whose shan is more 
brilliant than the stars that adorn the firmament, 
may God prolong his life and give him peace! 
After presenting my greetings in this brief and 
humble way to your exalted Excellency, I have a 
little petition to present, etc., etc." These letters 
generally close with such an expression as, " Hav- 
ing no further petition, your humble slave, Hosein 
the son of Ali. ,, The letter then is sealed on the 
opposite page from the writing. If the letter is 
an official one, the seal bearing the title of the writer 
is used; if, however, it is a personal one, the seal 
bearing his name is chosen. The writing is 
a sort of shorthand, very difficult to read, save 
by those who know the language well, and is written 
from right to left. 

The writing of Persian letters, besides taking 
much time, requires one thoroughly versed in eti- 
quette, ceremonies, and with more than the usual 
education. This gives employment to a large num- 



182 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ber of scribes that are usually known as mirza. 
That is to say, if the word mirza is placed be- 
fore the name it indicates one of these scribes or 
teachers. If it follows the name, it denotes the 
rank of a prince. For instance, Mirza Hassan Ali 
is a scribe, but Hassan Ali Mirza is a prince. These 
men usually sit on the floor, hold the paper in their 
left hand, and write with a reed pen. They make 
their own ink, use their hair as a penwiper, and 
carry a pair of funny-looking scissors with which 
they trim the paper. For such service they receive 
from six to sixteen dollars per month without per- 
quisites. Many of them are from excellent families, 
and are intelligent and delightful conversation- 
alists. 

The Persian secretary found in legation^, in 
large commercial houses, and acting as confidential 
clerks to the wealthy, are called mundjis. They 
often have a number of mirzas under them, who do 
most of the writing. Naturally, this class are better 
paid and their shan is higher. 

Nearly every large household in Persia has 
a naib, who represents the master when the latter 
is away and acts in a general way as agent for the 
family. Below him is the steward or nazeer, who 
looks after the servants, often procuring food for 
the household from the market, and, in a general 
way, is a superintendent, taking his orders both 
from the master and the naib. It is not unusual 
for a Persian household to require a score of 

% 
«... 



AMONG THE UPPERCLASSES 183 

servants. These usually get their noon luncheon 
and evening dinner at the home of their master. 
Many of them are married and live close by in the 
neighbourhood. They are paid from five to ten 
dollars a month, and, beside their food, are given 
two suits of clothing each year. It is hard to get 
them to do more than one thing. If the man cooks, 
he will refuse to wait on guests, and if a man is 
hired to drive the carriage, he often refuses to feed 
the horses, and hence this need for many hands. 
Americans and Europeans residing in Persia gen- 
erally find men who are willing to do any and all 
sorts of work. A large number of servants about 
a house is an indication of great shan J and is de- 
sired by every Oriental of rank. All the better 
cooks in Persia are men, and, indeed, in the Ameri- 
can and European homes in Teheran, only men are 
employed as household servants. 

The kitchen of a large Persian establishment is 
worth a visit. It usually occupies a room all to 
itself, not connected with the house of the master. 
It may be across the street; indeed, it does not 
matter very much where it is, so long as it is in that 
quarter of the town, for when the food is prepared 
it is placed in large metal dishes to keep it warm. 
These are then placed on large wooden trays cov- 
ered with a heavy cloth and given to the serv- 
ants, who put the trays on their heads and carry 
them to the different courts and rooms of the es- 
tablishment. Sometimes the cook has been com- 



184 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

pelled to taste the food when putting it in the cop- 
per dishes to be sealed, when poison is suspected. 
But usually these servants are very trusty, and it 
is little short of marvellous what savoury dishes 
they can prepare out of so little variety. The cook- 
ing is done over charcoal fires, kindled in holes 
made in the floor, or upon a sort of shelf con- 
structed from brick and mortar. 

The early breakfast of the Persian is always 
light, consisting of hot tea, hot milk, a little dry 
bread, fruit, and cheese. Butter spread upon bread 
is rarely used by them, because of the fact that 
their food is often surcharged with fat. The real 
breakfast is served just at noon, and consists of a 
kind of roast meat, called kabobs, an abundance 
of baked rice, bread in long sheets, always a vege- 
table, and fruit or melon in their season. Fish, 
partridge, and, in the spring, lamb are frequently 
served. A favourite dish is called fizzenjan, consist- 
ing of mutton or fowl cooked until it falls to pieces, 
over which is poured a sauce made from English 
walnuts, pomegranate juice, and melted butter. 
The confectionery and desserts of the Persian are 
rather too heavy for the American, accustomed to 
his own delicious sweets. The word sherbet is 
probably of Persian origin, but is used to denote 
sweetened drinks from different fruit juices, and 
not ices, as we use the term. Some of these sher- 
bets are delicious, if one can forget the ponds from 
which the ice comes. But it never does to delve 



AMONG THE UPPERCLASSES 185 

too deeply into kitchens. No doubt, the West- 
erner in Persia would find it hard to partake of the 
delicious roast lamb, stuffed with raisins and all 
sorts of nuts, if he knew that the little animal was 
less than a week old when killed. 

The rice is cooked by first boiling it, then 
straining it and placing it in a copper vessel, 
where it is thoroughly baked. When it reaches the 
table, it is quite dry and light. It may be eaten 
with gravies, butter, or with stewed fruit. The 
Persians often colour it with saffron. There are 
certain dishes that contain much grease and garlic, 
which the writer has never had the courage to try. 
The evening meal only differs from the one at noon 
by the addition of soup, and is served just before 
bedtime, which often is at a late hour. The after- 
noon tea is taken as regularly as the luncheon and 
dinner. All Persian meals are served on the floor, 
the tablecloth being a long striped sheet spread in 
the middle of the room. The man who prepares 
the table is not always careful to keep from walk- 
ing on the cloth; indeed, he often seems to try to 
strike the middle in passing from the door where 
the food is brought from the kitchen to him, when 
arranging the table. But it makes less difference, 
for the Persian always removes his shoes when in 
the house, even if he does keep his head covered. He 
thinks the Westerners very rude to walk in on the 
carpets from the muddy street with their heavy 
boots. The thing he cannot understand is why they 



186 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

are so careful to remove their hats, as they say 
it is the cleanest article of clothing. The writer 
must confess that he has never been able to offer 
any explanation. 

# When the dinner is ready, the host arises, and 
with a polite bow and wave of the hand he says, 
Bismallah, which means, " In the name of God." 
Persia is an old country, possibly the oldest in the 
world, and is evidently older than knives and forks, 
for these articles are not required by them. Little 
is said at a Persian meal, for all are engaged in eat- 
ing with their fingers. Not a little skill is required 
to handle the various articles of food without mak- 
ing a frightful mess. 

The social feature of a Persian dinner is " after 
it is over with," as the Irishman might say. The 
food having been removed by the servants who 
are to eat it, the kalyan or water-pipe is prepared 
for those who enjoy it. For a party of twelve, not 
more than two pipes would be required. It would 
be first offered to the guest, while the host would 
have the second turn at it. On one occasion, a 
European had a number of callers and offered the 
man next to him a cigar. After smoking it for 
a few moments, he handed it to the man next to 
him, who did likewise, and so it went down the line 
to the servants at the door, who after a few whiffs 
tossed it into the garden. If at a party there are 
both Christians and Mohammedans, two pipes will 
be used, although this is not always the case. Very 



AMONG THE UPPERCLASSES 187 

few of the Europeans are brave enough to risk the 
dangers of contagion from these pipes, by trying 
them. 

At these dinners, one rarely sees very much of 
Persia's old china, but sometimes some rare pieces 
are in evidence. Sipping one's tea or coffee with 
a spoon is considered ill-bred, and many of the 
smaller spoons have the bowl perforated so as to 
prevent this. The filigree work in silver is often 
very artistic, while the spoons made in Ispahan and 
Zenjan are much prized. The large sherbet spoons, 
beautifully carved from wood, the bowl holding 
from four to six ounces, the handle from a foot 
to a foot and a half in length, are beautiful speci- 
mens of work in wood. Many of the water-pipes 
are got up very artistically, and are not infrequently 
inlaid with precious stones. 

In Teheran, when dinners are given by the high 
officials to a diplomatist or other European officials, 
of course everything is done along Western lines. 
The service is usually immaculate, the dinner of 
many courses, and served by servants thoroughly 
trained for such service. These dinners are invari- 
ably served at eight in the evening, the dinner hour 
throughout the European colony. Calling is always 
done from four till seven, and when the dinner is 
over the day's duties are finished. With the poor, 
however, the question of daily bread is a consum- 
ing one. Instead of kabobs and pilau, many are 
compelled to subsist on dry bread, cheese, and a 



188 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

little tea. Sometimes they are able to prepare for 
themselves a little soup from the heads of sheep, 
for which they pay the butcher a few pennies. In 
the summer time, lettuce, cucumbers, and fruit may 
be added to their bill of fare. In the larger towns, 
men may find in the bazaar native restaurants, where 
for a few pennies a large bowl of soup with rice 
may be purchased. In Teheran, where thousands 
flock from the villages seeking employment as la- 
bourers, these cookhouses are important institu- 
tions. 

Although chairs may be found in nearly every 
Persian home, they are rarely used, except for 
guests, the divan being preferred. These are often 
put upon the carpet, without any wooden frame 
under them. The poorer classes find our most com- 
fortable chairs little short of torture, and I have 
seen a native woman at church slip down between 
the seats and sit on the floor, " to rest her- 
self/' Bedsteads are used only by the few who 
have been to Europe, or have come in contact with 
European civilisation. Stoves are being introduced, 
but the kersi, a charcoal-fire under a little short- 
legged table, covered by a large bed-comforter, is still 
used by the majority. By this arrangement the 
family-fire costs but a few pennies per day. As 
soon as the weather begins to get warm, the family 
remove their beds to the flat mud-roofs, where all 
sleep. 

As many of the vessels used in the kitchen are 



AMONG THE UPPER CLASSES 189 

made of copper, they must, in order to prevent poi- 
soning, be whitened with tin at regular times. In 
our own home, this was attended to every four 
weeks, the man bringing his little forge and tin- 
plate to the house. Fruits containing a good deal 
of acid, cooked in these copper vessels with the tin- 
plate off, is nearly always likely to produce very 
severe symptoms of poisoning, and sometimes 
death. They are never quite safe to use in cooking 
fruits. 

The clothing worn by the men of the upper 
classes is not unlike the Western dress, except that 
the tail of the coat is a sort of pleated skirt, long 
enough to cover the feet of the wearer when sitting 
on the floor. The short coat of the European rep- 
resents to them all that is vulgar and undignified. 
In the street, they frequently wear over their Euro- 
pean garb a loose flowing robe, made from camel's 
hair. The hat of the Persian is usually made of 
lambskin, and is called a kolah. The turban is 
only worn by the ecclesiastics. The labouring class 
wear a tight-fitting cap, made from stiff felt, and it 
serves many purposes. I have seen men drink from 
it, carry food in it, and sometimes the mason has 
used it for mixing and carrying mortar, when mak- 
ing small repairs about the premises. The polite 
Persian never uncovers his head except when at 
prayer. 

To the Oriental, the bath is not only a necessity 
but is a religious rite. In many homes a private bath 



190 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

is maintained for the household. The public baths 
consist of a great tank in which all plunge, the 
water being changed rarely oftener than once a 
week. Sometimes this same water is made to serve 
for a month, being sterilised by heating. Were it 
not for the furnace under these tanks they would 
prove a death-trap to all who patronise them. As 
it is, they are bad enough in scattering many kinds 
of contagious diseases. They are always under- 
ground, and the rooms are kept at a tropical heat. 
There are cooling rooms, where tea and the water- 
pipe are offered their patrons. To take one of these 
baths properly requires, it is said, several hours. 
It is one of the places in Persia not patronised by 
the foreigner, and of which the writer has little 
personal knowledge. He does know, however, that 
many of his patients patronised them when suffering 
from contagious diseases. Besides offering its 
patrons the benefits of a hot bath, there is always 
some one to give massage and colour the fingers and 
toes yellow, or rather reddish-yellow, with henna. 
No personal adornment in Persia is so much coveted 
as red hair and beard. Especially is this true of old 
men, who seek the bath for the purpose of getting 
their hair and beards dyed. The baths are heated 
by the refuse from the stable, and unless it is 
stipulated in the contract, the hostler can claim this 
refuse, as one of his perquisites. The baths may be 
recognised by those great piles of fuel on their 
roofs. 



AMONG THE UPPER CLASSES 191 

Very few Persian homes have any provision for 
a laundry, the clothes often being washed in the 
open ditch by the roadside. The clothes are infre- 
quently boiled, and soap, being an expensive article, 
is often used sparingly by the poorer classes. No 
machines or washboards are used, the clothes be- 
ing made clean by rubbing them in the hands, or by 
beating them with a sort of paddle on a large rock. 
The subject of the pollution of these streams by al- 
lowing them to be used in this way, has been con- 
sidered on several occasions by the Sanitary Coun- 
cil At one time, after an outbreak of cholera, pub- 
lic laundries were constructed in various parts of 
Teheran, but the people declined to use them. The 
habits of the Medes and Persians are not easily 
changed. 

The Persians are very fond of riding, and are 
nearly always good horsemen. They ride with a 
high, heavy saddle and a broad stirrup with a short 
strap, often standing well off the saddle when run- 
ning their horses. Horses can yet be said to be 
cheap in Persia, although they are much dearer 
than they once were. Twenty years ago, a splendid 
riding pony could be bought in Kurdistan for 
twenty-five dollars, but to-day such an animal would 
bring one hundred dollars in Teheran. The best 
horses that find their way to the Capital come from 
Arabia and Kurdistan, although the Turkistan and 
Bakhtiari breeds are often quite as good for service. 

The Turkoman horses are very intelligent and 



192 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

are nearly always good trotters. They make ex- 
cellent driving animals, as well as riding ones. As 
fond as the Persian is of the saddle, he hardly 
considers it dignified to drive, and, consequently, 
he always employs a driver. Some of these men 
are most cruel, and have little or no idea how to 
adjust the harness so as to make it easy for their 
teams. Horses, like men in Persia, are supposed 
to get the evil-eye, and, when thus afflicted, no treat- 
ment is too cruel for them. In nearly every large 
stable there is kept a wild boar, to become the kur- 
ban or sacrifice, in case the evil-eye strikes the stable. 
It is thought that the boar is particularly good in 
receiving the evil intended for the horses. One of 
the writer's patients, once wishing to show his 
gratitude, sent him one of these wild creatures from 
the forest, but he was less afraid of the evil-eye 
than the tusks of the vicious brute. In the better 
stables throughout the country great care is ex- 
ercised in caring for the horses. They are kept 
scrupulously clean, they are regularly exercised and 
fed, covered with heavy felt blankets, and a man 
always sleeps in the stable with them. Often a 
wealthy Persian will keep half a dozen teams of 
driving horses and half that number of riding 
ones. They prefer the large, heavy horses for driv- 
ing, that would only be used in America for drawing 
heavy loads. I do not know why this is, unless it 
is because the carriages are heavy and the roads 
often rough. 



AMONG THE UPPER CLASSES 193 

The women all ride astride, usually on a sort of 
pack-saddle, called a pollon. The pollon is suited 
better for the donkey than for the horse. The don- 
key, however, is not quite up to the shan of the 
upper classes, and is passing out of use as a riding 
animal, except for certain ones of the middle and 
lower classes. Good riding mules are worth more 
than horses, and are much sought after as riding 
animals by the priests and merchants. They are 
taught a short, easy pace by tying their legs to- 
gether, so they can take only short steps. After 
they are thoroughly broken, these ropes are removed 
and the pace becomes a fixed gait. 

For long journeys, where there are women and 
children in the party, they use a tackravan or kaja- 
vahs. The former is a litter carried by two pack- 
animals, one in front of the other, supporting the 
tackravan, while the latter consists of two large 
boxes, sometimes covered by a hood, a woman being 
in each box. With these primitive means of travel 
from twenty-five to thirty miles a day may be made. 
It seems strange to see these in Teheran side by 
side with the motor-car. 

The work of the Persian as a copyist has already 
been spoken of, but his love for art should also 
be mentioned. In his love for pictures he differs 
widely from his Turkish neighbour. Many of the 
Turks will have no pictures on their walls, lest they 
be considered by the ignorant as idolators. No 
Persian home, on the other hand, is without some 



194 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

sort of pictures. They may be expensive ones from 
Europe, or the cheapest sort of advertising cuts 
from newspapers and magazines. At some of 
the photographic establishments European patrons 
have insisted upon having the plate as well as the 
picture, in order to keep copies from being sold. 
It does not seem to make much difference to the 
general public whose picture it is, if it is thought 
artistic. 

The work of the Persian artist is done in both 
oil and water-colour. Some of the large paint- 
ings of the Shahs that one sees in the palaces are 
excellent. But the pictures of Persian village life 
are always the most interesting to Westerners. In 
some of these may be seen very often remarkable 
skill, and in these everyday scenes they seem to 
be able to present a more exact perspective. It may 
be, that the soul of the artist enters more iijto such 
a picture. 

Over the doors of the baths, inns, and city gates, 
may be seen all sorts of crude pictures, mostly of 
the chase or representing the prowess of some 
Persian character. Most of these are absurd and 
meaningless to the Westerner. Some of them are 
representations of giants, by the side of dwarfs, 
four-footed beasts with wings, boys with green 
faces, all with tremendously big bodies and small 
limbs. They certainly have the merit of being 
original. The attempt to copy many of the famous 
pictures in Europe has produced many cheap imita- 




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AMONG THE UPPER CLASSES 195 

tions and cannot be said to have helped Persian 
art. When we consider how little opportunity the 
Persian artist has had, there being no public galler- 
ies or museums, his work speaks strongly for his 
native talent. 

The writing of books is becoming more and more 
common, and while many scribes are kept busy 
copying rare and useful manuscripts, modern ideas 
have so taken hold of the people that in Teheran 
there are not less than four large steam printing 
establishments, prepared to turn out work in ten 
languages. With these busy, and a half-dozen daily 
papers being published in the Capital, it is hard to 
see why progress in education and learning shall 
not from this time forward be rapid. 



XII 
LIFE AMONG THE LOWER CLASSES 

THE word pa&deh, in Persian, means cur- 
tain. In studying and trying to interpret 
the lives of any Oriental people we find, 
very frequently, the pairdeh drawn. We see the 
drama of life played as from a box in a theatre, and 
the changing scenes move so swiftly along, now 
tragedy and then comedy, that we forget the forces 
behind the curtains producing the different acts. 
This is very definitely the case in a country like 
Persia, where the extremes of wealth and poverty, 
joy and sadness, enlightenment and superstition, 
education and mysticism, dwell side by side as 
neighbours. But we do get behind the scenes some- 
times, and even to those of us accustomed to the 
sombre colours of Oriental life, it frequently comes 
as a jolt and shock. 

It was Thanksgiving eve. The day had been 
a long, hard one, with the endless duties incident 
to the management of an hospital. The last patient 
had been attended to for the night, and the bright 
lights of the wards had given place to the dim 
shades of the candle. The night nurse moved 
quietly in and out among the beds, to see, if per- 

196 



THE LOWER CLASSES 197 

chance, his services might be needed. The scene, 
gloomy enough in itself, was perhaps made worse 
for us, by the fact that the morrow was to be, in 
the Homeland, a glad holiday, and by the con- 
templation of the many happy reunions of friends, 
in which we could have no part. Years may dull the 
keen appreciation of the sojourner in Persia along 
some lines, but never his love for his native land. I 
have observed this often among those Europeans 
born in Persia. They always refer to their father's 
native land as theirs, and count the years until they 
can go " home." 

On this special Thanksgiving eve, I turned my 
face homeward, where I found the fire in the library 
grate burning brightly, and the easy-chair seemed 
especially inviting. The weekly post had come dur- 
ing the day, bringing home letters and papers. I 
scanned the paper, hoping to find word from some 
old acquaintance. The fire in the grate had burned 
low, when suddenly I was awakened from my doz- 
ing by the cry of the night watchman : " The first 
watch of the night is ended and all is well, all is 
well ! " How his voice rang out on the cold night 
air ! I roused myself and went to the window, and 
while I stood there, a beautiful carriage fresh from 
Moscow, drawn by massive Russian horses, passed 
out of a neighbouring garden. The occupants were 
of the official class, and had been spending the even- 
ing socially, at a near-by palace. It was the month 
of fasting. The light on the great mosque near-by 



198 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

went down, the gates of the city were closed, and 
within the walls of this great Asiatic capital, more 
than a quarter of a million of human beings slept. 
But there were some that did not. 

Looking out in the garden I saw a dim lantern, 
carried by a young man accompanied by an old 
woman who seemed to be the boy's mother. I could 
have guessed their errand, for no one would venture 
out at that time of night except for a doctor. 
Anticipating a night call, I quickly discarded my 
slippers for some heavy boots, donned a heavy coat, 
and was ready to go with them when they reached 
the door. The boy said little, but the poor mother 
poured out her tale of woe and sorrow. Her eldest 
son, a shoemaker in the bazaar, the support of the 
family, had been taken with a severe cold, which had 
developed into pneumonia. The native hakim had 
refused to attend the case longer, as he feared he 
would be blamed if the patient died. In their dis- 
tress, they had consulted the astrologer, who, after 
making the istakharreh, advised them to try, as a 
last resort, one of the foreign doctors, hence their 
midnight call. 

The size of the lantern, as well as the garb 
of the boy indicated, if not extreme poverty, 
a lowly station in life. Their home was in a 
crowded quarter beyond the great thoroughfare 
leading to the railway station and the gate of Shah- 
Abdul- Azim. Many of the lamps in the street had 
gone out, for only sufficient kerosene is put in them 




3 



C/2 



O 

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O 
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THE LOWER CLASSES 199 

to burn until midnight. Those that burned longer 
only served to make the night appear blacker. As 
we hurried along the street, the son and I in front, 
with the old woman following some yards behind 
keeping up a constant talking, we were brought face 
to face with a half-crazy fellow, who had often been 
at the hospital. As soon as he saw me, he said, 
" Salaam, Hakim Sahib, I was just going to your 
place; they are all dead; don't tell anybody that it 
is cholera, but that is what it is ; we thought the dis- 
ease was over in the town, but God knows best ; they 
were all that I had, and I have no money with which 
to bury them. The house is just on the road, and if 
you think I am only begging, come in and see. We 
wish to bury them early in the morning, and we 
have no money to pay for preparing the body at 
the proper place. " I promised to stop upon my 
return and this satisfied him. 

The house of a sick man is always filled with 
friends and curious neighbours, who advise all sorts 
of unthinkable remedies and charms. Our patient, 
the pneumonic shoemaker, was no exception. His 
bed, a hard pallet on the floor, was surrounded by 
anxious friends who were depending upon an old 
woman for medical advice. The case was so serious 
that two chickens had already been killed and ap- 
plied warm to the patient's feet, as a restorative, 
while he was being dosed every few minutes, with 
some vile decoction, the composition of which was 
only known to the old woman who sat at his feet. 



200 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Charms, quotations from the Koran, written 
prayers, and small bricks made from earth from 
some sacred shrine, were all in evidence and formed 
no small part of the treatment. A neighbour had 
been sent for a lamb that would be sacrificed early 
in the morning, if the case did not improve. The 
little furniture in the house and the poor old 
woman's few belongings were already mortgaged 
and the money was being used in saving the bread- 
winner of the family. The patient was suffering 
intense pain and had great difficulty in breathing. 
With some good blisters and proper remedies, I left 
him after an hour, and turned my face homeward, 
stopping as I had promised at the house of the crazy 
wanderer. 

I have not the power to describe the wretched- 
ness of this place they called home. It was not far 
from one of the bazaars, and, to get to it, we had 
to climb a sort of ladder. It was the home of the 
outcasts, and for those who can truly say, " No one 
careth for me ! " Disease and death were stamped 
on the faces of the women. It was among such 
that the sister and mother of the half -crazy Ali 
Jan lived and died. They, like many of their neigh- 
bours, had seen better days, but reverses had started 
them on the road that leadeth to destruction. 
Cholera had left the city as an epidemic, but 
isolated cases were yet appearing. The night 
before they had feasted upon melons and fruit. 
This was followed by the usual symptoms of 



THE LOWER CLASSES 201 

cholera, and death. Others living in little mud 
rooms on the roof were ill with the disease. In one 
of them was an old woman, a sort of sorceress, who 
lived with her son, who kept a large baboon with 
which he gave exhibitions on the street and in the 
tea-houses. The horrid creature's eyes shone from 
the corner of the room where he was crouched, and 
he seemed to realise the terror of those about him. 
I did not go into the room of the dead farther than 
the door, for there was nothing a physician could 
do for them, and the rites of burial are always 
sacred. I could already smell the camphor which 
permeated the tattered shroud or coffin covering 
that had been used many times before. A long piece 
of white muslin had been resurrected from some- 
where with which to wrap the bodies. This muslin 
would be all their burial would require, except a 
rented coffin, and the shroud which they had already 
procured. The poor, when dead in Persia, after the 
body is washed and wrapped in white muslin, are 
placed in a rough wooden box, a strong handle ex- 
tending from each corner. The body, placed in 
this box, is carried from the house by friends. The 
first person of his religion that is met, is expected 
to relieve one of the pall-bearers, and thus the body 
is shifted from shoulder to shoulder until the grave 
is reached. Those who assist at funerals and act 
as pall-bearers are thought to be performing acts 
of great merit. There is a place set apart for wash- 
ing the dead where a small fee is charged. The 



202 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

total expense of a respectable burial among the 
lowly in Persia amounts to less than two dollars. 
The coffin, and shawl used to cover it, are always 
returned, and the body consigned to the elements 
with but a simple shroud of white muslin. The 
clothing of the dead is often sold to the second-hand 
shops in the bazaar. 

After prescribing for some of the others who 
were ill, and contributing to the little fund required 
for the burial, I gladly withdrew. Just before the 
gray light of early morn threw its rays upon the 
snow-covered, hoary-headed Mount Demavend, I 
reached home from my visits. 

As days passed by, our shoemaker, whom we 
knew as " The Penadooz," grew better, but the dis- 
ease was stubborn, ending in an abscess that re- 
quired his removal to the hospital for an operation. 
Here he remained until the warm days of spring had 
come and the violets were bursting forth in great 
bunches in the hospital garden, while large glass 
jars of blooming daffodils had been sent in by the 
policeman who hoped for his annual Norooz pres- 
ent. The mother came regularly to see him, rarely 
forgetting the bunch of benafchees. These bou- 
quets of violets and a profusion of thanks settled 
their medical bill. I declined his kind offer of a 
pair of Persian shoes to be given upon a promise 
from me to wear them ! 

I think it must have been quite a year before our 
patient came again to see us. Instead of being the 



THE LOWER CLASSES 203 

pale, anaemic man that had left us, he seemed now 
the picture of health. His loyalty and devotion to 
the hospital had not ceased to abound, and, although 
his expressions of friendship were filled with Ori- 
ental extravagances, there shone through them all a 
gratitude that was unfeigned. 

The purpose of his visit at this time was to invite 
us to his wedding. By economy and faithful work 
he had prospered until he could now boast the own- 
ership of his own ducan, or shop in the bazaar. The 
mortgage held by the Jewish money-lender had been 
redeemed, and they now had their household goods 
all back. Their path, so dark the year before, now 
seemed to be full of hope and happiness. 

In Persia, the marriage ceremony is divided into 
two parts: the akhd or betrothal, and the arusee or 
wedding ceremony. In the Mohammedan law both 
are legal marriages, the first settling the questions 
arising from property held by one or both of the 
parties, while the second is held when the bride is 
claimed by the groom. These ceremonies may be 
ten years apart, or ten weeks. Many marriages in 
Persia are based solely upon convenience, and with 
regard to property. It is not unusual for a girl of 
ten to be legally betrothed. In such a case she has 
become the legal wife of a man she probably has 
never seen, and in fact before she has the slightest 
conception of the meaning of the word. Sometimes 
a marriage-broker, or vakil, arranges one of these 
contracts, for which he receives some sort of com- 



204 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

mission or reward. Not a few of these match-mak- 
ers are old women. Their duty is very easy if the 
bride is a child and all arrangements can be made 
through the parents. But if, as sometimes happens, 
it is a young woman of more mature judgment, the 
task is not so easily and quickly performed. It 
sometimes happens that these matches are arranged 
between children who have grown up in the same 
household, in which case the broker can have no 
part. It was such a case as this that had been 
arranged between our friend the shoemaker and 
his prospective bride. She was the daughter of a 
neighbour, and he had known her as a child. This 
was quite different from many of the Persian mar- 
riages, where neither of the parties to the contract 
has ever seen the other. The shoemaker had been 
engaged for a year before his illness, the ceremony 
having been conducted by a mollah who had sat in a 
doorway, the bride with her mother and other 
women relatives and friends in one room, while the 
groom with his friends sat in the other. The mollah 
read off a long list of property, real and personal, 
belonging to the bride, which the groom accepted 
in trust. Of course, she had nothing, and these 
things were named to prevent her being sent off pen- 
niless in after-years by her husband. In case he 
wished to divorce her, she would have this claim 
against him. We might commend this system to 
certain American communities. 

The house of Shireen, the bride, was next to that 



THE LOWER CLASSES 205 

of The Penadooz, and down in their quarter of the 
town there are no yards. In the court in which she 
lived, there were not less than a half-dozen other 
families. She dwelt with her mother in the balah- 
khanah, the upper rooms reached by some brick 
steps that were fast falling to pieces. In the centre 
of the court was a tank of water, perhaps thirty 
feet long and twenty feet wide. The water in this 
tank was considered especially good, as the aqueduct 
could be turned in and the water changed whenever 
desired. The pavement of the court was made of 
slabs of stone, except some few circular spaces that 
had been left for flowers. In one of these grew an 
almond tree, the heavy bloom with which it was cov- 
ered indicating the approach of spring. 

The wedding day was calm and free from all 
wind, and the warm spring sun made the court more 
pleasant than the damp rooms on the roof. Carpets 
had been borrowed and spread over the pavement 
in the court, the water in the tank had been changed, 
and its stone curbing had been decorated by a row of 
flower pots. These were supplemented by vases of 
cut flowers, while dried rose leaves had been scat- 
tered broadcast all over the courtyard. A huge 
samovar had been obtained from a tea-house in the 
bazaar, and all day long it kept up its hissing, like 
a steam engine, as dozens of cups of tea were drawn 
from it. It had a close rival, however, in popularity 
in the three kalyans or water-pipes, that were kept 
passing from one to another of the guests. Only 



206 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the women were allowed in this court, and from 
early in the morning they came and went. Tea, the 
water-pipe, sherbets, and sweets were served in 
abundance. The bride was bundled up in a new silk 
chuddar and a full trousseau, all being the gift of 
the groom. Around her neck were a few small gold 
coins, several silver ones, and a string of blue glass 
beads. Her eyebrows had been well blackened by 
a pencil for this purpose, and not a little paint had 
been applied to her cheeks. As the guests entered, 
an old woman who had thrust her services upon 
them acted as hostess, while the mothers of the bride 
and groom were both engaged in serving refresh- 
ments. The guest invariably said, " May your wed- 
ding be blessed ! " The host replied, " In the name 
of God enter; your kindness in coming to assist is 
very great ! " Then the guest would be sprinkled 
with a little rosewater, offered the kalyan, and later 
was served with pomegranate or orange sherbets. 

Over the wall, in the shoemaker's own home, the 
men had assembled, and the scene was much the 
same, except that the crowd was more hilarious. 
Some friends of The Penadooz had sent for a 
singer, a wandering soloist, who sang much to the 
amusement of the crowd and to the groom's dis- 
comfort. He began in a soft plaintive tone in a 
minor key, then lifted his voice until it became dis- 
agreeably shrill and could be heard in the neigh- 
bouring yard where the women were assembled. As 
the singer's face reddened with his efforts and his 



THE LOWER CLASSES 207 

eyes seemed bursting from his head, the fifteenth 
verse of his song was reached, which was a " take 
off " on the groom. It said that his heart had 
warmed until it had become as crisp as roast meat, 
and that no one could wonder at this when the bride 
was sweeter than the dew on the rose leaf, and other 
extravagant compliments. The laughter and clap- 
ping of hands by the assembled crowd of men found 
an echo over the wall where the women were 
gathered. 

In the afternoon a buffoon, the son of the 
sorceress that we had seen with his mother on the 
night of our first visit to the house of the shoe- 
maker, was there with his baboon, hoping to pick up 
a few pennies from the crowd. He had with him 
also a bear which furnished the children much 
amusement. 

The day passed rapidly and as night approached 
the whole place was lighted by dozens of blue lamps 
and candles. These lamps are rented from the 
bazaar. Dinner of rice, meat, fruit, and sweets was 
served. Towards midnight there was a general 
cessation of the noise and confusion about the place. 
A band of music was brought, the procession was 
formed, the soloist sang some special song, the flat 
mud roofs were crowded with women and children, 
while the crowd of men went with the groom to 
claim the bride. The ceremony in which the priest 
had a part was simple and had been arranged early 
in the day, so that it only remained for the groom to 



208 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

claim his bride. Nearly all the men in the proces- 
sion carried lanterns, while their leader led the way 
with a lighted arch, lifted high on a long pole. Had 
the distance been great, a horse would have been 
provided ; as it was, carpets were spread from door 
to door for the bride to walk upon. As the groom 
crossed the threshold of Shireen's home a lamb 
was sacrificed. The bride was led to the door and 
given over to her husband amid a tremendous noise 
of alleged music and the cheers of their friends. As 
the crowd moved away from the door, the women, 
who had gone out to meet the bridegroom with 
their lamps, now turned back and the ceremony was 
over. The day made plain the parable recorded in 
the twenty-fifth chapter of Saint Matthew's Gospel, 
of the wise and foolish virgins. 

I did not see the shoemaker again until the fol- 
lowing August. The day had been unbearably hot, 
and I was just leaving the hospital for my week-end 
rest in the hills one Saturday evening, when he 
appeared at the gate with his mother to ask me to 
go to see a friend of theirs who was ill. The case 
was one, I gathered from them, requiring immediate 
relief, or two lives would be sacrificed. The woman 
was a sort of relative of theirs, who had been 
deserted by her husband some months before, and 
she had accepted employment in the house of a 
dealer in horses who lived in the Sangalatch quarter 
of the town, in order to supply herself and little girl, 
some three years old, with bread. 



THE LOWER CLASSES 209 

I took my assistant, and although we hurried a$ 
rapidly as possible to the place, it was quite dark 
before we arrived. The high walls of the narrow 
streets were hot to the touch and threw off their 
reflected heat until one was almost stifled. We 
found the poor woman on a sort of broad, wooden 
bench in an open courtyard, where she had been 
for nearly forty-eight hours. An examination 
clearly revealed that one life had been sacrificed, the 
question now was, could the mother be saved ? The 
ignorant midwife who was responsible for these 
conditions sat on her heels in the corner and said 
nothing. A little chloroform, an operation that 
required but a few minutes, carried the woman 
over a crisis that had threatened to overwhelm her. 
This is only one incident among many where mod- 
ern scientific methods have commended themselves 
to the Oriental mind. 

It has been well said that " half the world thinks 
with its eyes." I remember one evening, just before 
sunset, being in my office at the hospital when the 
door opened and a patriarchal-looking man entered. 
His dignified bearing, long flowing beard, large 
turban and loose robes, plainly stated that he 
belonged to one of the professions. Whether it was 
theology, law, or medicine, I could not, of course, 
know. After inviting him to sit down, and passing 
the usual complimentary Persian phrases, I asked 
him if I could in any way serve him. He replied, 
"lama surgeon, and returning from the Court 



210 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

of Dochen Tapeh, was overtaken by the storm, and 
having heard of the hospital I decided to stop and 
visit it." I then told him that nothing gave us more 
pleasure than calls from our professional friends 
and invited him to inspect the establishment. He 
seemed delighted with what he saw, and all went 
well until the surgery was reached. When he saw 
the various instruments and appliances he seemed 
somewhat irritated and expressed his opinions 
in no uncertain terms concerning them. He said 
they were quite unnecessary, that when he wished 
to perform a surgical operation he did not 
need sterilizers, gowns, and assistants, but simply 
rolled up his sleeves, called to the prophets 
for aid, and before the spectators had realized 
what had been done, the operation was finished. 
"Do the patients get well?" I asked. " That 
rests with God," was the fatalistic answer; " my 
work is done when the operation is finished ! " 
When I showed him some rather large stones that 
had been removed, he asked if they contained 
diamonds. I had to confess that so far we had 
found nothing of that kind in them. " Why, then," 
he asked, " do you take the trouble to remove 
them?" 

Notwithstanding the ignorance of this old man, 
he was evidently wishing to learn, and so he was 
invited to the clinics and our acquaintance grew into 
a sincere friendship. As much harm as this man 
was capable of doing as a surgeon, he was a great 



THE LOWER CLASSES 211 

improvement over the barber-surgeon and barber- 
dentist. Besides, he became anxious and eager to 
learn, and what he acquired from Western medicine 
greatly increased his usefulness as a practitioner 
and, better than all, resulted in his giving up surgery 
entirely. Most of the surgery done in Persia has 
been done by the barbers. Their methods are most 
cruel, foul, and objectionable. Of course, the more 
intelligent classes are not treated by them, but this 
chapter is dealing with the lowly, those who have 
not had opportunity to see the results of Western 
science. With the upper classes the barber's 
services in a medical way are confined to the taking 
of blood. This is done in two ways, by opening a 
vein in the arm and by the application of leeches. 
These leeches are kept in great jars in the shops of 
the barbers, and it is not an unusual sight to see a 
man having the operation of blood-letting performed 
by opening a vein, in the street, usually just in front 
of their door. 

The number of legal wives allowed by Moham- 
medan law is four, but any number of seegahs, or 
concubines, may be taken. These latter are easily 
cast off, and the result is that many hardships are 
thus inflicted. Sometimes they are able to find em- 
ployment in large households as maids, or, as they 
are called in Persia, bodjees. Not infrequently 
they are taken as plural wives of some other man, in 
order to get their services as maids for the more 
favoured ones. Often, after years of struggle, sick- 



212 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ness overtakes them and they are cast out by some 
wicked master into the street. To such as these, 
the hospital comes as a haven of rest and blessing. 
But often the hospital does not have them until dis- 
ease has so firmly fixed its grasp upon them that 
nothing permanent can be done for them. These 
poor women may often be seen sitting by the road- 
side with no place to go, every door, seemingly, 
closed against them. They are the result of a ter- 
ribly distorted social system. 

A few years ago, a well-known European family 
in Teheran had taken one of these poor women into 
the family as nurse. She was a woman of good 
character, lately arrived from the Bakhtiari coun- 
try, but had been deserted by her husband in 
Teheran. She had a little girl about eleven years 
old whom she kept with her. An attempt was made 
by some men to kidnap the child. In escaping from 
them she ran into an open well and was killed. 
Nothing could be done in the matter. 

The frequency of divorce among the Mohamme- 
dans has caused the Nestorians and Armenians to 
practically forbid it. The men, however, pay less 
attention to the laws of these churches than do the 
women, and they very frequently leave their wives 
unprovided for in Persia and go to Russia to find 
work, re-marry there, and remain permanently. 
Their poor wives, often not out of their teens, must 
spend the remainder of their lives as widows. This 
system also works many hardships, and is ex- 



THE LOWER CLASSES 213 

tremely severe. One often sees these deserted 
women, frequently going out as nurses and maids, 
who might have had happy homes of their own if 
the laws of their church had been less severe on this 
point. 

There is a class of men who go from the lower 
classes into the European homes as servants, and 
unfortunately many Westerners sojourning for a 
year or two get their ideas of the Persian people 
from them. They are shrewd, clever in money mat- 
ters, and often very dishonest. Even if they 
are honest when they enter the employ of the 
European, they are soon taught by the other 
servants ways that are dark and tricks that lack 
much of being vain. While there is no definite 
organisation amongst these servants, there is an 
understanding that often amounts to the same thing. 
The servant who tries to be honest in one of these 
large establishments has a pretty rough road to 
travel. But it would be just as fair for Americans 
to be judged by the coloured servants in their 
employ, as for the Persian people to be judged by 
the servant class who drift from one Legation to 
another and from one European home to another, in 
Teheran. 

The only fixed festival in all the year in Persia is 
the New Year. I say fixed, and yet it is only ap- 
proximately so, as the New Year festival is always 
at the vernal equinox. The other Persian feasts, 
being of a religious character, are governed by the 



214 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Mohammedan calendar, which is based upon the 
system of lunar months. The Persian New Year 
seems to begin at the natural time. It is the spring- 
time, the winter is over, and it seems to be a fitting 
time to begin a new year. Sometimes there is a 
heavy snow just then, and it is considered a splen- 
did omen, the people saying that the past is blotted 
out and they can begin the new year with a clean 
account. It is the most important event of the year 
in social, business, and political circles. It is at this 
time when notes fall due, the new governors are ap- 
pointed, and all business affairs are supposed to be 
settled up. It is a sort of Thanksgiving, Christmas, 
and New Year's day combined. 

To the poor, this is the most important event of 
the year, and is about the only one that brings much 
joy or pleasure. The servants must all receive a 
new suit of clothes and a gift of money. Sometimes 
it is stipulated in the contract that this gift of cash 
shall equal one month's salary. The servants are 
very fond of blue, and on New Year's morn one 
may see dozens of these men in the streets with their 
bright navy blue coats. No home is too poor to cele- 
brate the day by a few decorations and sweets. The 
bazaars are of course closed, and a general holiday 
is observed. In the better homes it continues for 
several days and is a time that any and all may call 
where they like. Sometimes there are fireworks 
and huge Chinese lanterns. This celebration is 
observed by the Kurds and other wild nomadic 



THE LOWER CLASSES 215 

people. It is the only event in all the year to remind 
the people of Zoroastrianism. Indeed, it is not quite 
certain that the Parsees can even claim this festival 
as a part of their history. Be that as it may, it is 
now universally observed, from the king on the 
throne, who receives the high officials of the gov- 
ernment, the diplomatic body and representatives 
from the various commercial guilds, to the lonely 
widow who lives with her children in an upper room 
in the crowded part of the city. It is the one day in 
all the year in Persia when the hearts of the people 
seem glad, and sombre colours give way to bright 
and striking ones, and even the lowly rejoice. 



XIII 
MEDICAL MISSIONS IN PERSIA 

I FIND no record of any American residing in 
Persia prior to 1835. I n the autumn of that 
year, Dr. Grant, an American physician, with 
a clerical colleague, settled in Urumia, the former to 
practise among all classes, and the latter to inaugu- 
rate a system of schools for the non-Moslem popula- 
tion, especially the Nestorians. From that day to this, 
the American doctor and teacher have lived and la- 
boured among the people not only in Urumia, but 
in most of the larger towns in north Persia. There 
are at present American medical missions at Te- 
heran, Hamadan, Kasvin, Kermanshah, and Resht, 
in east Persia, and at Tabriz and Urumia, in the 
western province of Azerbijan. There are twelve 
doctors, half of whom are women, and one trained 
nurse. This force, with their native assistants, con- 
ducts five hospitals, ten dispensaries, and annually 
treats not less than fifty thousand patients. The 
English missionaries have medical missions at 
Ispahan, Yezd, and Kerman. 

One cannot remain long in the Orient without 
becoming profoundly impressed with the possibil- 
ities of Occidental medicine as a potent factor in 

216 






MEDICAL MISSIONS 217 

raising the moral, social, and business life of the 
people. Even to those who put only a commercial 
value upon the East, the subject becomes of vital 
interest, for medical work everywhere touches the 
home and family life as nothing else does, and it 
is pretty well recognised that that which touches 
the home and family life of the community finds an 
echo in the life-chords of a nation. Besides, human 
suffering, unrelieved, needs medical men who make 
their profession a mission as well as a career. Some 
most excellent physicians may think that they are 
not in sympathy with modern missions, but their 
lives are not in accord with this view, for the toil- 
ing, conscientious doctors who go from home to 
home, carrying sympathy and cheer to the family 
circle when the lamp of hope burns low — the " Dr. 
MacLures " of the community — are in the truest 
sense medical missionaries, whether duty calls them 
to the mansion in the avenue or to the dark places 
among the non-Christian people in Asia, where 
cholera, plague, pestilence, and famine are frequent 
visitors. 

A careful study of the lives of David Living- 
stone; Kerr, who founded the first insane hospital 
in China; Allen, who opened up Korea as a mission- 
field and afterwards became United States Minister 
in Seoul; Holmes, the trusted friend and physician 
to the Shah of Persia; Post, professor of surgery 
at Beirut, Syria, and many others, who have ren- 
dered distinguished service, will show something of 



218 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the great work that has already been done by mis- 
sionary doctors practising in the East. But it is 
not my purpose to tabulate the work already done; 
rather let me tell the reader something of the prac- 
tical workings and possibilities of a medical mission. 
For this purpose permit me to take the American 
Presbyterian Hospital in Teheran as an example, 
for some medical missions have had a much greater 
success and some far less. After all, the work, 
whether in China, India, Egypt, or America, has 
many features in common. People are very much 
the same the world over when they are ill. It does 
make a difference, however, in the character of the 
work, whether one is practising in a large place 
where there is a European colony, or far out in the 
provinces, where the people know nothing of our 
system of medicine, and are prejudiced against the 
foreigner. 

Even in the larger places, the need is tre- 
mendous; witness Teheran, a city of three hun- 
dred thousand population, the capital of the coun- 
try, with street cars, electric lights, large stores, 
banks, telephones, automobiles, and a general veneer 
of Western civilisation, and yet with only about fif- 
teen physicians holding American and European di- 
plomas. My American home city is about the same 
size, and has, besides its board of health and excel- 
lent water-supply, nearly six hundred registered doc- 
tors! In Teheran there is not a metre of sewer- 
pipe and the open ditch often supplies the lower- 




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MEDICAL MISSIONS 219 

class with drinking water. Three years ago, when 
cholera was carrying off from three to four thou- 
sand people a day in Teheran, we went out and 
removed dozens of dead and dying from these 
streams. The thirst of a cholera patient is terrible, 
and these cool open streams acted as a magnet for 
the suffering. Even when cholera is not with us, 
typhoid is necessarily always present. I mention 
this to show the great work yet to be done in the 
primary principles of sanitation. 

In the cholera epidemics of both 1892 and 1904, 
the relief work centred largely around the Amer- 
ican Medical Mission there, the funds being sup- 
plied by the government and by private sub- 
scriptions. We shall not attempt to picture the 
terror of those days, when strong men were 
falling on every hand; the merchant closing his 
shop in the evening never to return; business 
suspended; thousands fleeing from the city by 
caravan and on foot; leaving the sick by the 
wayside and the dead unburied. The Mission's 
organisation for the help of this terribly visited 
city, assisted financially by the Government, Banks, 
Commercial Houses, Telegraph Companies, and 
private citizens, rendered a service of incalculable 
value to the community. In the epidemic of 1904, 
our large hospital on the east side of the city was 
sacrificed, being converted from a general hospital 
into one for cholera cases; a house was taken as a 
refuge hospital on the west side of the city, and 



220 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

also a place was opened in Shiran. These three 
centres of work, together with a dispensary in the 
Jewish quarter of the town, were kept in operation 
day and night for nearly a month, when the epi- 
demic ceased. 

In carrying forward this relief work, our efforts 
were directed in three directions, viz., to the 
prevention and further spread of the disease, to 
the care of hospital cases, and to visitation in the 
homes. A pamphlet, published in English and 
Persian, entitled " Asiatic Cholera : a Few Neces- 
sary Precautions and Some Hints Concerning Treat- 
ment in Emergency " was circulated freely through- 
out the Teheran bazaars and also in the larger cities 
of the country. Very good reports as to the use- 
fulness of these printed directions came to us from 
many sources. 

The patrolling of the town for the removal of 
afflicted persons dying in the street was the most 
delicate thing undertaken by us, and brought down 
upon us more or less criticism from the fanatical 
portion of the community. These had been taught 
that epidemics were dispensations from Allah, and, 
do what we might, we could not prevent or shorten 
them. But our hands were upheld strongly by the 
Governor and others in authority, and, when our 
work was over and the people understood that our 
motives were only humanitarian in character, the 
criticism we heard during the early days of the epi- 
demic gave way to the warmest praise. 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 221 

The first day that our hospital was open for 
cholera cases sixty-one patients were admitted, 
representing every stage of the disease. Two 
died while being lifted from the carriage into the 
hospital. One was the case of a poor Armenian 
woman, whose two daughters were that day sud- 
denly seized with the disease. Sending at once for 
a carriage, she started to the hospital with them, 
but as there was some delay in getting the carriage, 
and as her home was three or four miles away, she 
met with considerable delay in her plans. When 
she arrived at the hospital, one of the daughters 
was moribund and died in the carriage. At this 
she became panic-stricken and told the driver to take 
them back to their home. They had gone only 
a few yards when the other daughter's death was 
announced, probably from fright, by the scream of 
the terror-stricken mother. 

Our own cook, seeing what had happened, 
ran home and locked himself in his house. The 
disease was even worse in Shimran, whither thou- 
sands resorted, hoping that the cooler regions would 
not become infected. The writer, with one of his 
colleagues, standing on the street corner at midday, 
counted fifteen funerals passing in less than half 
an hour. Shops and bazaars were closed, and the 
stillness of death hung over a terribly-stricken city. 
But the story is not all a dark picture of panic and 
despair, for there were many noble, tender, and 
heroic acts done by the Persians for their fellow- 



222 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

kind. The Governor of the city laboured night and 
day, and finally died from the disease. Near-by the 
hospital was a young mother who took cholera, 
and her husband cared for her with great tender- 
ness and thought fulness, under the direction of one 
of the hospital physicians; but, in spite of all that 
was done for her, she grew rapidly worse. Finally, 
she declined to take medicine, and her husband, in 
his extreme anxiety for her recovery, remarking 
that the medicine was pleasant, put the spoon to his 
own lips which she had been using. In a few hours, 
he developed the disease, and in order to hide from 
his wife his own illness he excused himself by say- 
ing that he must go to inquire concerning the wel- 
fare of his father's household. He died a few 
hours after his wife's death, without knowing that 
she had gone on before. They were buried, with 
their new-born babe, a few hours later. Other in- 
stances equally pathetic might be given where whole 
families died within a day or two of each other. 

In addition to the work in the hospitals and dis- 
pensaries, the missionaries visited cholera patients 
at their homes, going, when called, with medicine 
and directions for treatment. As the funds were 
supplied by popular subscription, no charge was 
made for treatment by any one. The weather was 
excessively hot, and the long hours made a severe 
test of the strength of the helpers, but none of the 
forty or more persons who assisted in this relief 
work took the disease. We saw the accountant 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 223 

leave his office, the student his books, the mason his 
trowel, the chemist his shop, the cook his kitchen, 
and even the policeman his rounds, to volunteer as 
members of the Cholera Relief Corps. During the 
long hot days and in the late watches of the night, 
they were by the side of cholera patients in homes 
and hospitals, giving such aid and comfort as was 
possible, often when the Reaper, Death, had already 
marked his victim. 

The cardinal points to be observed by the at- 
tendant upon cholera patients are the observance of 
absolute surgical cleanliness on his own part, and the 
eating only of freshly-cooked food, and drinking 
only boiled water. I have never known any one who 
was careful in these things to take the disease, al- 
though I presume it would be possible by other 
means. In any case, the germs can enter the sys- 
tem only by the mouth. Notwithstanding the large 
number of moribund cases that we receive, at least 
forty per cent, of all patients in our hospital re- 
cover, and if one takes only the cases that did not 
arrive in this condition, one can safely put the per- 
centage of recoveries at about seventy. During the 
month, more than four thousand patients were 
treated in the hospital dispensaries, and at their 
homes. The committee received from the com- 
munity $5,549.10 and disbursed it all but $496.02, 
this balance being distributed amongst the various 
charities of the city, in compliance with our own 
wish that no American or American institution 



2M TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

should reap any pecuniary benefit from their la- 
bours. As has been already stated, the service was 
a gratuitous one, the only item of expense charged 
by our Mission was the amount expended in clean- 
ing and disinfecting the hospital after the epidemic 
had disappeared. 

The better homes in Persia are in large gardens, 
surrounded by high mud walls. There is nothing 
attractive about the architecture of the houses, but 
some of the gardens are beautiful. Our medical 
plant is in one of these gardens in the suburbs of 
the city, and consists of an hospital, a dispensary, 
and a home for those in charge. The buildings are 
all plain, but well-adapted for the purpose for 
which they are intended. The hospital has forty 
beds, and was in a large measure built by money 
contributed on the field, mostly by Mohammedans. 
The people have laboured with us in a most en- 
couraging manner, almost from the establishment 
of the work. Connected with the hospital is a well- 
built dispensary of eight rooms, where, last year, 
twenty thousand consultations were given the 
sick. 

This branch of the work is more than self-sup- 
porting, it being our plan to charge those able to pay. 
The surplus goes toward the support of the needy 
ones in the hospital. Many of our patients are, of 
course, often too poor to pay anything, and our 
workers not infrequently take the patients around 
to the kitchen and give them a good meal instead 




THE PAVILIOX FOR WOMEN. 

American Hospital, Teheran. 




THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL, 
PHYSICIAN'S RESIDENCE. 



TEHERAN. 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 225 

of medicine. All kinds of surgical cases are under- 
taken, and the institution is well-equipped with 
dark rooms, operating rooms, instruments, and 
drugs. The large amount of eye- work alone done 
would justify the expenditure of time and strength. 
Not less than two thousand eyes have been saved 
or cured by operation that otherwise would have 
been doomed to blindness. I recall a native doctor 
from the vicinity of Hamadan who came to us, be- 
ing led by his little boy, and who introduced him- 
self by these words: " For the sake of God do 
something to restore my sight, for although my 
son leads me by the hand, yet for two years I have 
not seen his face." I am glad to say that an opera- 
tion for cataract made it possible for him not only 
to look upon the face of his son, but to take up his 
medical practice again and become the support of 
his family. 

A little boy came to us once requiring a surgical 
operation which was made with a good degree of 
success. One hot day in the late spring, upon go- 
ing into the ward of the hospital, I was told that 
the little boy wished to speak to me. Going 
over to his bed, I asked him what he wanted. In 
reply, he told me of a neighbour boy, a shepherd, 
the only son of a widow who was dependent upon 
this boy for support. He said that, owing to his 
deficient sight, the flocks wandered away from him 
and were lost on the mountains. He closed his little 
speech by asking me if we could cure him. I told 



226 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

him to bring the boy and let us see him, at the 
same time giving him a card of admittance when- 
ever he chose to come. The boy in due time left 
the hospital and the matter passed out of my mind. 
Some weeks afterwards, I was, upon entering the 
grounds, met by two foot-sore travellers. One ran 
to me and asked if I did not remember him, 
whereupon I was forced to confess that I did not. 
He then showed me the card of admittance that I 
had given him and I remembered him. He then 
told me how, as soon as he was able to walk, he had 
left the hospital, and had gone to seek his almost 
blind friend, trying to care for the flocks on the 
mountain in order to assist with the meagre sup- 
port required by his mother. For sixty miles up 
the hot, dusty road this boy had trudged, foot-sore 
and weak from his operation at the hospital. Find- 
ing the lad, he had taken him by the hand and all 
down that long winding road of sixty miles he 
had tenderly and affectionately cared for him, shar- 
ing his crust of bread, which he carried tied up in 
a handkerchief. It is needless for me here to state 
that the boy was taken into the hospital at once, 
and I am happy to say the operation was success- 
fully done. There are a good many of these cases 
of soft cataract in children, and as the operation 
nearly always is a simple one, the results are usually 
very satisfactory. Of course, without surgical in- 
terference the child is doomed to a life of darkness, 
which often means that they are cast out to become 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 227 

beggars in the streets. Sometimes patients refuse 
amputations because there is no employment open 
to these cripples. A servant of one of my English 
friends in Yezd was once thrown from a waggon 
and his knee so injured that he had to decide be- 
tween an amputation and death. He chose the lat- 
ter, remarking that he would rather risk the future 
than take the certainty, as he thought, of becoming 
helpless, notwithstanding the assurance of his mas- 
ter that he would be taken care of. He died a few 
days later. But these cases are rare, and I have 
always found the people reasonable and willing to 
undergo any sort of treatment, especially if an anaes- 
thetic was used. 

Many of the native lines of treatment are 
very cruel. I have only to name that of the 
remedy for a kind of sore-head which is found all 
through the East. By proper treatment, with some 
appropriate and simple remedies, these cases soon 
get well. The native people often employ as a 
remedy a cap made from a sort of pitch and plaster- 
of-Paris. This is put on and allowed to dry on 
the head and usually is worn for several weeks, the 
purpose accomplished being the thorough disinfection 
of the scalp, thus killing the germ. Up to this point 
in the treatment there is no pain, but the removal 
of this cap through which the hair has become 
firmly matted, is one of the most painful tortures 
which can be inflicted upon a helpless child. With 
the removal of the cap comes most of the hair, and 



228 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

not a little of the scalp. The screams of the child 
when this cap' is removed may often be heard for 
several blocks. The fact that it is nearly always 
successful makes it popular among the poorer 
classes. 

The Bagdad or Aleppo button, called in Persia 
solak, because it requires nearly a year, i. e. y eleven 
months, to heal without treatment, is commonly 
seen. It comes as a sore, usually single, although 
they are sometimes multiple, without pain, the size 
being from a split pea to that of a quarter of a 
dollar. If the sore appears upon the face, as it 
often does, it becomes very unsightly. We often 
see the end of the nose taken off by it, or the eye- 
lid greatly disfigured. By proper treatment, how- 
ever, the sore usually heals kindly within a few 
weeks. There are no constitutional symptoms. It 
never comes from water or food, as was once 
thought. In Bagdad it was once considered a dis- 
ease of the date-eater. It has been clearly shown 
that the contagion must come from the outside, and 
that the germs are carried largely by the fly and 
mosquito. It is especially common in Teheran, 
among those who remain all the summer in town, 
where the mosquitoes and sandflies are always 
prevalent. t 

The surgeon in Persia has some things to con- 
tend with of which the American or European 
surgeon knows nothing. A ten-year-old boy was to 
be operated upon, and as the operation was not only 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 229 

delicate, but one endangering life, every precaution 
had been taken against sepsis. The sheets had been 
thoroughly sterilised and the bedding was new. 
The boy stood the operation nicely, and when the 
surgeon saw him the next day all seemed to be 
going well. The doctor, putting his hand on the 
bed, felt something move under the cover. Raising 
the blanket, out jumped a pet duck and ran across 
the floor crying, quack! quack! As the word for 
charlatan in Persian is not the same as in English, 
the surgeon did not feel that there was anything 
personal in the remark of this Persian duck. The 
mother, who was nursing the child, upon being 
asked why she had permitted such a thing, replied, 
with a shrug of the shoulder, that the boy's heart 
wanted it ! 

We have a good many patients among the pil- 
grims who pass through Teheran on their way to 
Meshed, Kum, and Kerbela. These long, tedious, 
and tiresome journeys are very trying, even to the 
most hardened. During the summer season many 
fall ill and find their way into the hospital. After 
recovery, they continue their journey and fre- 
quently send us others. Upon their return home to 
their village or town they tell what was done for 
them in the hospital, and it is an Oriental char- 
acteristic to enlarge and magnify, their politeness 
forbidding them to speak of the disagreeable. So 
in tea-houses, and in little groups, the story of their 
journeyings is told and in this mention is made of 



230 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the " New World Hospital." In this way, patients 
are sent to us from many miles around. 

The American medical mission work throughout 
Persia has had the cordial support of Europeans 
residing in that land. Some years ago a concert 
was given under the auspices of the United States 
Minister in Teheran, the benefits going to this 
work. The whole colony responded most cordially, 
and the following evening, at the command of His 
Imperial Majesty, the concert was repeated at the 
Palace, the Shah being present, and he afterwards 
sent a liberal contribution for the work. As those 
who had assisted in the programme represented both 
the Protestant and the Catholic portions of the col- 
ony, the gift of the king was divided equally between 
the two missions. Soon after this, upon the invita- 
tion of American Minister Hardy, most of the Min- 
isters of the Persian government paid an official 
visit of inspection to the hospital. Among the 
Ministers was the late Attabeg, who was assassi- 
nated at the door of the National Assembly in Sep- 
tember, 1907. 

The newspapers in Teheran have always been 
friendly to this work, and after the cholera experi- 
ences long articles commending the hospital to all 
classes in and about the Capital appeared. Although 
those in charge of this work had no personal ac- 
quaintance with these newspaper editors, very fre- 
quently, after some surgical operation upon some 
well T known citizen, there would appear articles 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 231 

strongly commendatory of the medical work, the 
following being a sample. " His exalted Ex- 
cellency Hadji , the number of whose 

services and self-sacrifices for the nation are 
more evident than the sun, who in truth could 
be counted one of the pillars of the constitutional 
government and a saviour of the nation from the 
bonds of helplessness and slavery, was compelled 
to go to an hospital for the treatment of his eyes, 
because of an attack of cataract, through which his 
truth-perceiving eyes were for a time deprived of 
beholding the good things of this world. In the 
early part of last Ramazan he went to the 

American Hospital , where the surgeons 

rendered a service beyond measure to that Honour- 
able Existence , and, praise God, the oper- 
ation was successful and the one eye operated upon, 
of His Greatness, to-day sees well and reads, and 
Inshallah, the other eye also at a convenient time 
will be operated upon, and he will find complete 
deliverance from this affliction. May the Lord be- 
stow -a glorious reward upon these possessors of 
goodness, and those who are the upbuilders of 
good things which remain after they have passed 
away." 

The same article speaks of the cordial support 
given the hospital by the late Emin-ed-Dovleh, who, 
from the beginning of the history of the institution 
until his death, was a warm supporter; since then 
the same attitude has been sustained by his family, 



TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

who contributed funds for the first hospital or 
pavilion for women in the Capital. 

In connection with the hospital we have a medi- 
cal training-school, and these students, when pre- 
pared, go out into the provinces to carry forward 
this same sort of work. In this way, the work 
perpetuates itself, without expense or burden to 
any one. 

The dispensary is open every morning except 
Sunday from nine o'clock until the last patient is 
seen, which may be late in the day. When the 
weather is good, there may be more than a hundred 
patients to see in a single day, besides the surgical 
work. It is an odd, but fascinating, crowd that 
greets one, morning after morning. Some have 
come in beautiful rubber-tired carriages, some on 
wheels, some on donkeys, some on camels, but most 
of all on foot. The costumes are as varied as it 
is possible for them to be, but it is not these things 
that interest the workers most, it is how they are 
to meet the almost superhuman demands of igno- 
rance and credulity. For example, with the Moham- 
medan, Allah is taken into every plan with a fatal- 
ism that is not to be questioned. If any one sneezes 
during a consultation nothing more can be done, for 
it is a direct warning from Allah that something 
is wrong. I saw a man once with an acute attack 
of appendicitis, who refused treatment until he cast 
the die to see if the stars were in the proper posi- 
tion for surgical work. Sometimes it is a man who 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 233 

knows a little English and wishes to use it. One 
of these is a little fat man who used to come fre- 
quently to see us. One day he came in with a 
pompous air and asked for some vaccine with which 
to " graft " his child ! Not infrequently a leper 
or a case of smallpox walks in upon us. When we 
ask them to leave the room they smile and ask if 
we do not believe that Allah is over all. Then 
there is a young woman who is violently insane, 
and tears herself, and cries out with that fear which 
is often present when reason is dethroned. She is 
shunned, because the superstitious say she has an 
evil spirit, but the truth is that in the Orient there 
are few obstetricians, and this woman has been 
neglected. There are no insane hospitals in Persia, 
and these helpless ones are often turned into the 
streets. There were no hospitals in Persia until 
they were founded by the missionaries. 

Sombre as is the picture of physical suffering, it is 
nothing compared to the midnight darkness of moral 
degradation that is back of it all. But here it is 
safer to draw the curtain. He who sees no good 
in missions has never seen behind the curtain. One 
finds it hard to fancy the man who could face the 
needy crowd that daily frequents these clinics with- 
out some feeling of pity for them, some desire to 
help them, a feeling away down deep in the heart 
that medical missions have a large part in the White 
Man's burden. 

It is not the purpose of the doctor to denation- 



234 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

alise any one out there unless a Christian, medical- 
social settlement can be said to denationalise them. 
It is a matter of greatest indifference to us what kind 
of clothing they wear, so that it is clean; or what 
kind of food they eat, so long as they boil the 
water; or whether they have a government with or 
without a parliament. All these, and a thousand 
other questions, they will settle if we can be patient 
and extend to them the Golden Rule, just as Japan 
has settled them. 

If the medical mission idea needed any outside 
endorsement it could wish for no better than the 
fact that governments are taking it up. Recently, 
both the German and the Russian governments 
have opened free general hospitals in Teheran. 
The English government has had, for nearly a 
century past, medical officers with free dispensaries 
throughout the south of Persia. And it can well 
be remarked that these medical officers have ren- 
dered a service of incalculable value to all classes, 
although, without hospitals, their work has been 
necessarily handicapped. 

The great work of bringing the East to know 
the West has just begun, and governments, com- 
mercial enterprises, and institutions of all kinds, 
standing on the brink of the unknown Orient, and 
feeling that there are vast possibilities for them 
if only they can safely enter, naturally turn to the 
medical profession to take the lead, just as the vari- 
ous Missionary Societies have done. In return for 



cm 



i( h& 



MEDICAL MISSIONS 235 

this service, the Orient will greatly enrich the Oc- 
cident, and no profession will profit more than that 
of medicine. Already not a few English and Euro- 
pean physicians are finding that an unusual post- 
graduate course may be found in the East, where 
there is always an abundance of the rarest clinical 
material. Especially it is true of tropical disorders, 
diseases of the eye, skin diseases, and in general 
surgery. Students now in the medical colleges will 
see the day when American physicians in consider- 
able numbers will go to Japan for post-graduate 
work, while an Englishman will hardly think his 
medical work complete without a year in India. 
On the Ganges and in the Punjab, and not on the 
Thames, will be found the time, and especially the 
clinical material, for the experimental work neces- 
sary for revealing the many hidden things in medi- 
cine which must be brought to light to make it an 
exact science. This opinion may seem to some ex- 
treme, but the view is supported by many who have 
knowledge of the East. 



XIV 

AMERICAN MISSIONS AND SOCIAL 
REFORMS IN PERSIA 

NOTHING American in Persia has the dol- 
lar mark upon it, for practically all the 
interests that we have there to-day are in 
some way connected with philanthropy. Whether 
such interests are as much value to us as a nation as 
those of commerce, is not for me to discuss here. 
Many people find it hard to get away from measur- 
ing everything by some political, financial, or social 
standard. This view is in a large measure an Occi- 
dental one, for whatever the judgment of Amer- 
icans may be concerning the wisdom of sending 
money and men to the needy nations in Asia with 
which to establish schools and hospitals, the fact re- 
mains, I think, that the Persians have appreciated 
the efforts that have been made for their people 
through the American Missions. In discussing a 
question of this character, it is necessary to differen- 
tiate between the benevolent purposes of a board or 
society undertaking such work, and the worker to 
whom the work has been entrusted. But in the 
minds of many I have found that missions simply 
mean some missionary whom they have known. If 

236 



AMERICAN MISSIONS 237 

he happens to be a man or woman who has pre- 
sented to them an attractive and pleasing per- 
sonality, they have no trouble in falling in with his 
purposes and ideas, perhaps I should say his en- 
thusiasm; but, on the contrary, if he happens to lack 
these desirable qualities, the result is the reverse. 

This entire volume, instead of but one chapter, 
might be taken up with the narrative of the found- 
ing and establishment of the various benevolent 
ministries of American missionaries in Persia dur- 
ing the last sixty years; and I think, if this narra- 
tive were closely followed, that the reader would 
be forced to the conclusion that the results have 
abundantly justified these efforts; that these mis- 
sions have made for themselves a place of great use- 
fulness among a needy people, and that they have a 
right to exist; and, further, that they are a testi- 
mony to the efficiency and personal character of the 
missionary force, as well as to the generosity of the 
American people. This view is supported by no less 
an authority than Sir Mortimer Durand, for some 
years the British Minister in Teheran, and after- 
wards his country's ambassador at Washington, 
who said in a public address at Nashville, Ten- 
nessee: "If I were ever again administrator or 
diplomatist in a non-Christian country, I would 
from a purely business point of view, as a govern- 
ment official, far sooner have them [the mission- 
aries] than not have them within the limits of my 
charge." 



238 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

One of the first things the missionaries did was 
to establish a system of schools. To be sure, the 
beginning was very small and the outlook dark, but 
Persia is no place for the man who has not a broad 
horizon, especially in these social questions. The 
school being in Urumia, and intended only for non- 
Moslems, the only ^available room that could be 
found was in a cellar. But the teacher and head of 
that school saw in the horizon a college for Urumia, 
splendid high schools for Tabriz, Teheran, Hama- 
dan, Resht, and other points, to say nothing of 
village and primary schools throughout the region 
in which he had settled. The letters and writings of 
the Rev. Dr. Perkins, the founder of Urumia Col- 
lege, clearly indicate that he believed that Persia had 
a chance of regeneration, but that little could be 
done until the people were educated. Were he to re- 
turn and see the growth of his idea, he ought to be 
more than satisfied. For many years the college at 
Urumia has been the inspiring agency and hope of 
the Nestorian people. Nothing since the destruc- 
tion of Nisibis has been undertaken for this ancient 
people so potential as this little school begun in a 
cellar. It has raised hundreds of Nestorian families 
from a condition of serfdom to respectable citizen- 
ship. It has turned out scores of teachers and 
preachers, and some doctors, the very men the 
country needed. It has taught the value of truth, 
honesty, personal purity, and the evils of the wine- 
shop, which in that country stands on a par with 



AMERICAN MISSIONS 239 

the " barrel "-house in America. Other non-Moslem 
communities, hearing and seeing what was being 
done in Urumia by these schools, solicited them also 
for their children. So work was instituted for the 
Armenians at Tabriz and Teheran, and for the Jews 
and Armenians at Hamadan. Later, missionary- 
work has begun at Resht, Kasvin, and Kerman- 
shah. Besides these High Schools, there are nu- 
merous village schools, especially in west Persia and 
in the Kurdish mountains, that are taught by teach- 
ers trained by the mission. Since the inauguration 
of popular government there has been a wave of 
enthusiasm in educational matters that has swept 
over the country. This desire for schools is based 
upon the belief that the future has many places open 
for those prepared to fill them. In a land where only 
about six per cent, of the male population can read 
and write the great need for schools becomes ap- 
parent. The result has been that the Mohammedans 
have come forward in such numbers and asked that 
they, too, be admitted into these schools, that in sev- 
eral places they outnumber the non-Moslem stu- 
dents. In all these schools no distinction is shown 
any class, clan, or religious sects, for the mission 
school is intended to help, educate, and train stu- 
dents without regard to class, religion, or previous 
condition. 

In all these schools tuition is charged, and the 
work is made as nearly self-supporting as possible. 
This brings a higher grade of students, and the stu- 



240 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

dent body in Teheran, Tabriz, and Hamadan con- 
tains a strong Mohammedan contingent that must 
necessarily have great influence in affairs in the 
future. Among the students in the school at Hama- 
dan have been those who are now the leading doc- 
tors among the Armenians and Jews there. In a 
land saturated with race-prejudice and hatred, who 
can measure the good that is to come from the 
association of all classes in these schools? We 
know in America that the greatest support that 
popular government has is the public school system, 
and there is no reason to think that the influence of 
the mingling of all classes in Persia will be less 
beneficent. There is no place quite so good to teach 
justice, equity, and honesty, the three pillars of good 
government, as in these schools conducted on 
popular lines. Contrast these schools, teaching all 
the languages, mathematics, bookkeeping, the 
mighty truths of the Bible, with the little medrassehs 
that one sees in an open room in the street, where 
the pupils study aloud, and are graduated at the age 
of ten, and you will realise the mighty work being 
done by them. It is the hope of the Mission that, 
at least in Teheran, another Christian college may 
be established. 

Because of the seclusion of women, the progress 
of the education of girls has not been so pro- 
nounced, although it is none the less real. The same 
wise judgment that established the school in Urumia 
for boys also started one for girls, and since that 




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AMERICAN MISSIONS 241 

day Fiske Seminary has continued to turn out those 
who were to make the homes and to be the mothers 
of the leaders of the Nestorian people. Again, at 
the points where there are schools for boys, have 
been established separate schools for girls, the one 
in Teheran doing almost college work. 

These missionary schools for girls in Persia are 
far more than their names imply, for they are in fact 
Christian social settlements. Were a volume writ- 
ten on them, it would not contain the story of these 
lamps set on a hill. Like the school for boys, they 
are open to all classes, and the teachers are brought 
into close contact with the mothers of many of their 
pupils. Often, early in the morning, before it is 
fully light, these women may be seen returning 
from a visit to some humble home, where during 
the night the Angel of Death has claimed some dear 
one. Known, trusted by whole communities, these 
women are carrying forward, in the truest sense, 
the social settlement idea. We may stop here long 
enough to inquire what the ordinary would-be critic 
of missions knows about these self-sacrificing 
labours. If they were familiar with them as a 
layman and a doctor, I feel confident in expressing 
the judgment that they would appreciate them. 
More than one mother, too poor to pay for doctors, 
too poor to think of securing a nurse, ill and 
neglected, has spoken to the writer, in his capacity 
as a physician, of their generous help. Many of the 
native homes are frightfully barren of all that we 



242 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

think goes to make up a home. Indeed, there is no 
word for home in the Persian language, as we 
understand the term. 

Lack of knowledge of ordinary rules of health ac- 
counts for a mighty death-roll among children. I 
have seen children, less than six months old, bathed 
in ditches at the side of the road when the thermom- 
eter was below the freezing point. The evil-eye is 
accepted as the cause of hundreds of deaths that can 
be traced directly to the ignorance and superstition 
of mothers, and I might say grandmothers, for their 
influence seems to be always paramount in a Persian 
household. As one rides about the country, one 
may see skulls of all kinds of domestic animals 
stuck on the ends of sticks to keep off the evil-eye. 
If a mother is told that her child is beautiful, she 
immediately begins to prepare its burial clothes, for 
such a remark is certain, in her mind, to be visited 
by dire results, for it always brings the evil-eye, 
whatever that means. Infanticide is not very com- 
mon, because of the love of the Persians for 
children, but it does happen not infrequently when 
the baby is a girl. Children are used to assist in 
begging by the roadside and are exposed to all 
kinds of weather. During the summer season, 
when thousands are passing daily on the Shimran 
road, one may see dozens of these unfortunate 
children with a beggar woman, not always the 
child's mother, asking alms of the passers-by. 
Even in the coldest weather, these children may be 



AMERICAN MISSIONS MS 

found by the roadside, usually crouching under the 
skirts of the women who are using them to gain 
money. During the winter, certain sunny streets in 
Teheran having high walls, which protect these un- 
fortunates from the piercing north winds, are lined 
with beggars. When it is announced that the Shah 
is to pass through certain streets, droves of these 
poor people patiently await his coming for hours, 
hoping for a small present of money. The fact that 
they are not often disappointed perpetuates this cus- 
tom. The sad part of it all is the suffering of these 
little children. 

Charms are sold openly in the streets and markets 
to ward off the evil-eye and bring good luck to their 
possessors. Many of them contain prayers and pas- 
sages from the Koran that are believed to be of 
special value in protecting the owner. During the 
epidemics of cholera these venders of superstition 
make enormous sums of money. Mothers with 
children who have become ill from taking spoiled 
food, or water from the ditch by the roadside, pro- 
ducing severe stomach disturbances, are made to 
believe that the child has a loose bone in its throat — 
a sort of crude osteopathy. On one occasion, the 
maid in our household, who had a little daughter, 
was told that her child had such a condition, and all 
our efforts to convince her that the child's throat 
was perfectly well availed nothing. She went to 
one of these bone extractors, paid him half her 
month's salary, who in much less time than it takes 



244 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

to tell it, extracted the bone — from his sleeve ! She 
returned home in high glee, having the bone as evi- 
dence, and a firm faith that the child would have 
died had she not had her case attended to. These 
men are very dexterous, and are able to deceive 
sharper eyes than this old woman's. Let no one 
think that these things are confined to the lower 
classes, for they permeate every class of society. 
The number thirteen is considered especially un- 
lucky. 

Girls are often married at an early age, not 
infrequently when they are mere children. Every 
doctor in Persia who has had much experience could 
tell most dreadful and harrowing stories of the suf- 
fering these early marriages have caused. I have 
seen children brought to the hospital that the mere 
mention of their husbands' names would cause out- 
bursts of shrieks, lest they might be compelled to 
return to them. It is needless for me to state here 
that these early marriages on the part of girls, 
means a weakened race. Many of these children 
are married, often at the age of twelve, to men old 
enough to be their grandfathers, and this means a 
large number of widows. As many of these widows 
are left without means of support, there is only one 
road open for them, and that road leadeth to de- 
struction. Most of them are almost compelled to 
become plural wives, or, what is worse, temporary 
ones, the Persian law sanctioning either arrange- 
ment. Divorce is common and is no disgrace for 



AMERICAN MISSIONS 245 

the man. Not so for the woman, however, for, if 
she belongs to the upper classes, it is hardly probable 
that her second marriage will be that of the first 
wife of a man equal to her by birth and social stand- 
ing. The woman cannot divorce her husband, but 
the husband has only to notify his wife that she 
is divorced three times when it becomes a fact. The 
men marrying into the royal household are denied 
this right, also plural marriage. Wife-beating is 
common, and the law takes no notice of such things, 
as it would be an interference with personal rights 
in popular estimation. 

Enough has already been said in this chapter to 
show that the educated mother is the hope of the 
New Persia that is bound to rise out of the rem- 
nant of the old. Indeed, in some ways, the educa- 
tion of women is more important even than that of 
men. Schools of every creed, tending to raise the 
standard of the home-life, thus placing Persian 
womanhood on the standard that it was when the 
beautiful Esther reigned in the palace at Shushan, 
ought to be strongly supported. Let us not deceive 
ourselves, however, in thinking that education alone 
will make honest business men or virtuous women, 
although it does frequently drive sloth and in- 
dolence from the household. The thing needed in 
New Persia, for both men and women, is character, 
and character depends upon the home, and the home 
upon the wife and mother, and the wife and mother 
very often owes all she is to some devoted teacher, 



246 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 



who labours not for money, but for love of 
humanity. 

Missionaries in Persia eschew politics, not be- 
cause they are not interested in seeing good govern- 
ment, but because the reforms they are sent to in- 
augurate are social and not political. They are not 
meddlers. More than one of the medical mission- 
aries have been offered good posts in governmental 
affairs, but have declined them. They have, how- 
ever, always stood ready to co-operate with the 
authorities in every good work. They are the 
health officers in some places, and most of them are 
members of the National Board of Health, an or- 
ganisation that has done much good in stamping out 
epidemics of all kinds. Their students are the 
medical advisers of many governors and feudal 
lords. When Muzaffar-ed-Din became Shah, Dr. 
Vanneman, the medical missionary of Tabriz, was 
asked to come with the harem as medical officer. 
The party consisted of several hundred people, being 
made up not only of the royal personages but a 
host of scribes, attendants, and servants. The cara- 
van required more than two weeks to make the 
journey from Tabriz to the Capital. 

In 1880, there occurred an uprising of Kurds 
along the Turco-Persian frontier under the leader- 
ship of a fanatical sheik. Diplomatic relations had 
not been established between the United States and 
Persia, and our missionaries were dependent upon 
the good offices of the British representatives in 



AMERICAN MISSIONS 247 

Persia. The same favours were always granted to 
Americans by the English Minister and consuls as 
were shown to their own subjects. Notwithstand- 
ing the many kind and helpful aids which were al- 
ways offered without stint by English officials, the 
Americans had made it a rule to do all they could 
alone, before invoking official aid or protection. It 
so happened, just at the time of this raid, that Dr. J. 
P. Cochran, then a very young man in Urumia, had 
been appointed by the mission to look after matters 
that now are referred to our own Legation. Born 
in the country, he knew the languages perfectly, and 
was counted by the Sheik his friend, as well as the 
friend of the Persian forces in Urumia. In this 
dual capacity he was able to render a service that 
not only saved the lives of the missionaries, but the 
city of Urumia from complete destruction. It was 
just after Turkey's war with Russia, and when her 
arm was impotent to do anything to quiet this strong 
and cruel Kurdish chief, who had crossed the fron- 
tier from Turkey and had entrenched himself in 
the mountains just back of Urumia. The Kurds 
were plundering right and left all through the 
region, having defeated the Persian troops in the 
first conflict. The people were terror-stricken when 
they realised their position. For more than a month 
all communication had been cut off, and the city 
was at the mercy of the Kurdish horde. The day 
before the attack upon the city- walls was to have 
been made, Dr. Cochran secured the promise from 



248 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the Sheik of twenty-four hours' respite, in order to 
allow the women and children, especially those in 
the schools, to leave the city. This was granted, 
and they were moved to the college, which is some 
two miles in the country. That day reinforcements 
reached the city, and the fertile plain with its many 
villages was saved from complete destruction. 
While this incident is perhaps the most prominent 
example of this sort in Dr. Cochran's career, his 
long and useful life was filled with similar services. 
He was a man who loved Persia, a favourite of 
the Persian people, without regard to religious affilia- 
tion, and who gave his life for the social, moral, 
and spiritual regeneration of all classes. The 
writer was at the Court when the death of this 
good man was announced, and he thinks he knows 
enough of Persian character to distinguish between 
the ordinary expressions of condolence and genuine 
regret, and he can testify to the manifestation of 
sorrow expressed on every hand at his untimely 
demise. Another great service rendered by him 
was the training of several classes of medical stu- 
dents, who are now among the leading doctors in 
the western provinces. 

When the Persian legation was established at 
Washington and the first Minister from Iran was 
sent to the United States, Dr. Torrence, a medical 
missionary, was requested by the Persian govern- 
ment to accompany the mission and present the 
Minister. This he did most creditably. 



AMERICAN MISSIONS 249 

The fact that the Persian authorities knew that 
these men had no political mission, and that they 
had only the good of the country at heart, made 
them the more acceptable. This is well shown in the 
relationship that for many years existed between 
those in authority and Dr. G. W. Holmes, for many 
years the medical missionary at Tabriz, Urumia, 
and later on at Hamadan. His services to the Shah 
and his Court have already been spoken of, but his 
work was not alone for the higher classes. Very 
often patients coming to the hospital in Teheran 
from the poorer villages on the Hamadan road would 
speak of his services to them. The first operation for 
abdominal tumour ever done in the city of Hamadan 
was performed by him in a native mud house, with- 
out any of the equipments that are thought neces- 
sary by the surgeon. The operation was quite suc- 
cessful and although the tumour was enormous in 
size, the woman lived for many years after. Many 
other such instances might be given. 

The treatment of animals by the Orientals is 
nearly always cruel; especially is this true of dogs, 
horses, and beasts of burden. Of course, there are 
many exceptions, but I think the statement, as a 
general one, will be acknowledged to be true by 
the Persians themselves. There are, for instance, 
hunting dogs that are well cared for, but, on the 
other hand, the streets are full of homeless dogs, 
wild savage creatures, that feed upon the filth of 
the street and upon dead carcasses of beasts of 



250 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

burden. If a donkey of the caravan dies by the 
wayside, his hide is immediately removed to be 
made into leather, but the body is left and is soon 
devoured by these roving droves of dogs. Indeed 
sag, the Persian word used for these disgusting 
species of canine, is not the same as that used to 
denote the hunting-dog. The sportsman always re- 
fers to his dog as a tuly. The animals used as 
beasts of burden are of short life, being worked to 
the extreme limit, and often poorly fed. It is not 
unusual to see great loads put upon pack-animals, 
whose backs are already sore and bleeding. Horses 
are daily driven in the public carriages in Tehe- 
ran that in America would be looked after by 
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals. 

But we cannot expect that animals will be well- 
treated, when it is known that there is not an or- 
phanage in or about the Persian capital. Children 
that are left by the death of their parents, or, as 
often happens, by the abandonment of them because 
of the death of the mother, divorce, or the opium 
evil, are usually taken in by some poor neighbour. 
Sometimes this is denied the child, and he becomes 
an outcast in the street, sleeping wherever he can find 
shelter, and eating the little that falls from the rich 
man's table. I now recall one case of a boy, not 
more than twelve, whose foot was so badly frozen 
that it had to be amputated by us. One of the 
servants found the boy one cold morning by the 



AMERICAN MISSIONS 251 

gateway insensible. He carried him to the hos- 
pital, where he remained for some months. 

The condition of the insane in Persia is even 
worse, if possible, for there is not a refuge or hos- 
pital for these unfortunates in the whole country. 
It is hard for even the most enlightened to look 
upon one whose reason is dethroned as ill, just as 
the same person might have typhoid, consumption, 
or even loss of sight, hearing, or any of the senses. 
They have not got completely away from the idea 
that there is something supernatural about insanity. 
The Persians often attribute it to an evil-spirit, and 
the result is that these unfortunates are kept 
chained, or in stocks, or confined in dark rooms and 
cellars. The little light of reason remaining, under 
these conditions, soon goes out, and the sufferer 
becomes a hopeless imbecile. The writer has at 
various times urged upon those in authority the 
need of an hospital for the insane, but with little 
success. As the moral conscience of the people 
rises, this matter is sure to be taken up. At pres- 
ent, it is one of the darkest social pictures in the 
world. 

The intense brightness of the sun, bad food, rim- 
less hats, clouds of dust that fill the street, together 
with filthy habits, make eye diseases very com- 
mon. There are no institutions for the blind in all 
Persia, and many are forced to beg from door to 
door. A well-known band of five blind men may 
be seen frequently in the streets of the Capital. 



252 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

They go hand in hand, usually just before sun- 
down, and cry in concert to the passers-by for alms. 
The American Mission Hospital was the first to 
take up work for these unfortunates in Teheran. 
Through this agency, literally thousands of eyes 
have been saved, or restored to sight by surgical in- 
terference. Fortunately the ears of Persian chil- 
dren fare better than their eyes, and there are few 
deaf people, and almost no deaf-mutes. This is 
to be accounted for by the high altitude producing 
a dry climate, and the further fact that the people 
spend much of their time in the fresh air out-of- 
doors. 

Practically nothing is being done for the lepers 
in Persia, except by the missionaries, and I regret 
to say that, owing to the pressure of work, they 
have not been able to do as much as they would 
like to have done. Fortunately this afflicted class 
is not very numerous, although there are some vil- 
lages given up to them. No restrictions are put 
upon them by the government, and they not in- 
frequently may be seen in the streets. We often 
had them come into our dispensaries. One of the 
American ladies who visited them in their village 
writes, " I could not keep back the tears when I 
saw their deplorable condition and knew that so 
little was being done for them. We gave them such 
help as we could. 

Gambling and intemperance are growing evils in 
Persia. Every sort of game and crude device are 



AMERICAN MISSIONS 253 

used to gain money. Little boys in the street may 
be seen playing at craps, using small vertebrae for 
the game. Once in Tabriz upon examining these 
bones the medical missionary found them to be 
from a human skeleton, but commonly bones from 
sheep are used. Cards, dice, and devices unknown 
to the Westerner are used by the professional. 

This list of evils might be indefinitely extended, 
but it would do no good, unless at the same time 
some remedy could be found, and in pointing them 
out here it is only for this purpose. That the 
picture has not been overdrawn is known by all 
Europeans and Americans who have taken the 
trouble to investigate these questions. The mis- 
sionaries stand ready to co-operate with any move- 
ment, of whatever nationality, having for its purpose 
the rectifying of these crying needs. The fact that 
they have not been able to do more cannot be used 
as an argument in decrying what has already been 
accomplished. As has been pointed out already, hos- 
pitals and dispensaries have been established, that 
are the only hope of thousands; schools are train- 
ing men capable of meeting the new conditions 
now arising in their government; the work of 
the schools for girls has been dwelt upon; and an 
attempt with no small degree of success has been 
made to offer a clean literature in the vernacular. 
One has only to know the language well and walk 
daily in the streets to understand how greatly such 
literature is needed. The charge cannot be sus- 



254 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

tained that the missionaries in Persia have been 
meddlers, or that they have held themselves aloof 
from officials of any nationality. Their lives and 
work have been an open book, and it is worthy 
of remark here that no one who has ever visited 
their institutions has offered anything but praise 
at what he saw. Dr. Augustus L. Kenny, a well- 
known surgeon and Roman Catholic of Melbourne, 
Australia, after a tour of the world, said in an in- 
terview for an American newspaper, concerning 
one of the mission hospitals: "I doubt if there is 
an hospital in the world doing more meritorious 
work." The missionaries have never claimed that 
their methods were without fault, that their way 
was the only one, and if their efforts may be con- 
sidered worthy of such high praise it is because 
they have been upheld in their endeavours for so- 
cial reform in Persia by many, both on the field 
and at home, not a few of whom held views that 
differed widely from theirs in religion, politics, and 
in national affiliation. 




> 



XV 

COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES, AND LAWS 

ACCORDING to official estimates, the popu- 
lation of Persia is estimated to be 9,500,- 
L 000. A glance at her foreign commerce 
may be of interest to some, about one-half of which 
is with Russia, one-fourth with Great Britain, and 
the remaining one- fourth with Turkey, France, 
Austria, Germany, and other countries, the United 
States being classed with the latter. Indeed, the 
United States sold to Persia, in 1906, only $22,- 
618.00 worth of goods. According to the official 
reports for 1906, the latest available statistics, Per- 
sia exported $25,210,298.00 and imported $33,235,- 
818.00, which included all sorts of goods. 

Taking up first the question of imports, we find 
that she used 6,779,000 pounds of tea, which cost 
her $1,832,230.00, and at the same time her sugar 
bill was more than four times this sum. 

Owing to the general habit of cigarette-smoking, 
which takes more matches than any other form of 
using the weed, her bill for this one article amounted 
to $278,812.00. Besides the enormous quantities 
of tobacco grown and used in the country, the im- 
port of this article exceeded the export, by $43,- 

255 



256 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

774.00. To those who think missions expensive we 
commend these two items for their consideration. 

During the same year, $1,294,730.00, in coin and 
bullion, were imported, while $755,510.00 went out 
of the country. 

It takes over 8,000,000 gallons of petroleum, to 
say nothing of the millions of candles, to supply 
the people with light, while notwithstanding their 
crude buildings, the carpenters use nearly a quarter 
of a million dollars' worth of nails. 

Persia imported $141,384.00 worth of bread 
stuffs. In this same year, she imported $314,416.00 
worth of rice, while her exports of this article 
amounted to $2,654,218.00. If the same balance 
could be shown in grain and other farm products, 
the finances of the country would soon be upon a 
substantial basis. 

In 1906, she sold to Russia alone over three and 
a half million dollars' worth of raw cotton, but in 
return bought over four million dollars' worth of 
cotton cloth from manufacturers in various Russian 
towns. There is no probability that Persia will ever 
be able to produce, except in certain small valleys, 
raw cotton equal in cleanness, silkiness, or length 
of staple, to that grown in the Southern States of 
America. It is well known, there are three chemi- 
cal elements that are essential to cotton raising, viz., 
phosphoric acid, nitrogen, and potash, and of the 
three phosphoric acid is relatively the most im- 
portant, controlling the action of the other two. 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 257 

The lack of transportation, ignorance on this sub- 
ject, and other reasons have prevented the Persians 
from undertaking this necessary fertilisation of 
their soil. 

The climate in Persia for raising cotton would 
seem to be better than in India or Egypt, for in 
those countries it comes to maturity too early, and 
the result is a short staple. The same thing hap- 
pens in Persia in regard to the American corn or 
maize. The stalk grows rapidly, but as soon as the 
hot season comes on, the ear rapidly matures, with 
the result that it is less than half the size it should 
be. So it is with the cotton in some parts of Persia; 
it rapidly matures, producing a short staple and 
somewhat coarse fibre. In many parts of Persia, 
although they keep oxen and other animals, they 
cannot apply the manure to their fields, being com- 
pelled, because of the scarcity of fuel, to dry and 
burn it. At present, the raising of cotton is in the 
hands of the ryots, or peasants, who sell it to one of 
the two or three large Armenian or Russian firms 
that send it to Moscow or other places to be manu- 
factured into muslins. It is picked by the woman 
and children of the ryot's family, put into large 
bales, not too large to be transported by camel, then 
covered with rough gunny and tied with native 
rope. Travellers on the road from the Caspian to 
the interior may see hundreds of these camels carry- 
ing the cotton crop to Enzeli. This represents only 
a part of the quantity exported, for all exports 



258 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

raised in the western provinces, of which Tabriz is 
the commercial centre, are forwarded to Julfa, and 
from there by railway to Tiflis. 

The Russian road from Tabriz to Julfa, on the 
Aras, is now practically completed. The conveni- 
ence it affords travellers and merchants is very 
great. It should benefit Russian trade greatly, as 
it has been found that a cart drawn by two oxen 
can bring the loads of six camels at one-sixth the 
cost, and in quicker time. Russian goods now reach 
the frontier by railway, eighty miles from the large 
commercial centre of Tabriz. 

In addition to the large amount of cotton cloths 
imported from Russia in 190.6, more was imported 
from Great Britain. Of the more than five mil- 
lion dollars' worth brought from the latter empire, 
not a little was produced in India. The Indian 
muslins, calicos, and white cloths are favourites in 
Persia. 

It seems strange that there are no cotton facto- 
ries in Persia, when we recall the many mountain- 
streams that would furnish an abundance of water- 
power, the cleverness of the Persian people in other 
crafts, and especially their renown in the manufac- 
ture of woollen and silk articles. That a people 
clever enough to weave the most beautiful carpets in 
the world, from wool and cotton produced on their 
own lands, the dyes of which they gather from 
herbs and trees only known to themselves, should 
produce such a small part of the cloth for their own 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 259 

clothing, is certainly striking. And yet it is claimed 
that our English word muslin is but another way 
of writing the word Muslim. It may be that the 
artistic taste of the Persian is not satisfied by the 
dull work of producing ordinary white muslin; at 
any rate, one rug will bring enough on the mar- 
ket to buy many yards of cheap cotton cloth. No 
doubt, however, when public confidence warrants a 
combination of capital, the Persians will find a profit- 
able investment for their money in cotton facto- 
ries. In the meantime, there is no reason why white 
cotton fabrics from the United States would not be 
appreciated in the region of the Gulf, for the 
climate demands only this kind of clothing. This 
opinion is based upon the popularity of American 
cotton fabrics in certain communities along the 
Arabian coast. 

The annual export of wool from Persia is a little 
less than one and a half million dollars, being less 
than one-half of the entire crop. The greater por- 
tion of Persia's wool crop finds its way into 
carpets. Last year, the local value of the carpets 
exported was $3,225,344.00. The word carpets in- 
cludes everything from a small prayer rug to the 
carpet large enough to cover the drawing-room of 
a palace. These are listed under the usual name 
of places where they were made. For instance, a 
Kermanshah rug will be called a Kermanshahee, 
a Bokhara will bear the label of Bokharee, while 
a Kurdistan one will be known as a Kurdistanee. 



260 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Although the thick, heavy rugs having a long nap 
are preferred in America, they are not always the 
best. Very frequently they are loosely woven, and 
are made of an inferior quality of wool. The most 
expensive rugs are some of the prayer rugs, a yard 
wide and twice that in length. They are nearly 
always thin, easy to keep clean, and will last for 
a hundred years. Rugs of this kind may be bought 
from fifteen to fifty dollars per square yard. The 
ordinary large heavy carpets that one sees in the 
stores here in America, may be bought in Persia 
from four dollars a square yard up to almost any 
price, depending upon age and quality. I saw one 
rug on the wall of a nobleman in the Capital, which 
contained about forty square yards, that had cost 
in material, labour, and dyes more than eight thou- 
sand dollars to produce. Sometimes rugs can 
be bought in London about as cheap as in Persia. 
This was the case two or three years ago, when the 
English market was overstocked, and money was 
scarce in Persia. But a good Turkoman rug, gener- 
ally known in America as Bokharee, is nearly al- 
ways dear everywhere. The price of all Persian rugs 
changes so radically and often, that it is difficult 
to indicate the price, except in a general way. 

Some of the most useful rugs are the galims. 
They are the thin rugs, containing often not a little 
cotton. The price is about forty-five cents a pound. 
They are generally of a convenient size, can be 
washed when needed, and are not expensive. Some 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 261 

of the designs are excellent, but unfortunately 
many are very bright and disagreeable to the eye. 
In Persia, they are used for hallways, and in the 
homes of those who cannot afford ghalees, or the 
heavy expensive carpets. 

The large felt carpets, found everywhere in 
Persia, have found no place in the American mar- 
ket, although they are excellent for bedrooms and 
libraries. They are usually of a buff colour, have 
a little red border, and are thick and warm. They 
are made by beating the wool together, and not 
by weaving. They are often of enormous size, and 
are not infrequently used under other carpets in 
order to produce a noiseless room. They also may 
be used on dining tables as silence cloths. Being 
of wool, and at the same time thick and warm, 
they are always an excellent mark for moths. It 
is interesting to see how firm a texture may be 
obtained by this process of beating the wool into 
large sheets and then pressing it. This felt is also 
used by the peasants in making rimless hats for 
themselves. 

The silk rugs of Persia are, of course, superior 
to the woollen ones from an artistic standpoint, but 
are less serviceable. The beauty and richness of 
the silk rug consist in its softness and the change- 
able colours; that is to say, as the light falls 
upon it from different angles the shades of colours 
change. I once saw a pair of these rugs in the 
Palace whose beauty it is impossible for me to de- 



262 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

scribe. Silk rugs are wall ornaments, piano or table 
covers, and not coverings for the floor. 

Persian silk is well known everywhere. Besides 
the amount used in the country in the manufacture 
of cloth and carpets for the people themselves, $i,- 
630,904.00 worth was exported. A history of the 
silk trade in Persia would require a separate chap- 
ter, since it has been an important export as far 
back as we have any record of the country. Indeed, 
it is quite likely that the silk trade is now much 
less than it was two centuries ago. At present, 
much of the silk goes to Russia and Turkey, but 
not a little finds its way to France. The great 
silk-growing region borders on the Caspian Sea, 
while it is produced in less quantities in the regions 
round about Kashan, Yezd, Tabriz, and other 
places. The word ahrishum, used by the Persians 
to designate all sorts of silk, is used in Europe only 
to describe the first quality of the Persian article. 
There are two other grades of inferior quality. 
More attention is now being given to the silk culture 
in Ghilan and Mazanderan, the trade being in the 
the hands of the Armenians and French. Still, as 
was stated above, the culture is much less than two 
centuries old, and is to-day capable of much de- 
velopment. 

It is surprising to one accustomed to think of 
Persia as a dry, barren highland, to find her fish- 
eries exporting in a single year $3,225,344.00 worth 
of fish. These fisheries are largely along the south- 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 263 

ern shore of the Caspian and are farmed out to a 
Russian firm. Naturally, the products are sold to 
that country. Some of these fish are the best that 
are found in Russia, a land where an abundance of 
the best fish can always be obtained. 

Persia exports annually about two hundred thou- 
sand pounds of opium. It is safe to say that 
twenty-five per cent, of her crop is consumed at 
home. The fact that this drug is lacking in mor- 
phine, its active principle, makes it a favourite for 
those addicted to the opium habit. 

Persia exports annually about $500,000 worth 
of live stock, consisting mostly of horses and some 
sheep. Being a pastoral country, this branch of her 
industries might be greatly developed. All through 
the various ranges of mountains are acres of fine 
meadows that might afford an abundance of pas- 
ture for horses as well as sheep. They are now 
utilised largely^ by bands of nomads, who pasture 
their sheep and goats there. As one horse is worth 
the price of twenty sheep, it can easily be seen that 
the raising of the former would be much more 
profitable. There is ready sale for Persian horses 
in India, and most of those exported are shipped 
to Bombay. The favourite for the Indian market 
is a breed known at the Karabagh horse. They 
are a very hardy breed, and seem to stand the 
Indian climate. The Arab and Turkoman breeds 
have been spoken of in another chapter. 

There is no more delicate beast of burden than 



264 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the camel. While he is capable of carrying great 
loads, and seems specially adapted to the desert, he 
very easily becomes sick and dies. He is especially 
subject to all kinds of skin diseases, as well as in- 
ternal ones. He brings a high price in the mar- 
ket, and the death of a camel is no small loss to 
the owner of a caravan route. In the heavy 
snows that are common to Persia, during January 
and February, he is at a great disadvantage. 

The exportation of hides in a single year, most 
of which represents the Persian lamb and sheep- 
skins, amounts to nearly one million of dollars. These 
lamb-skins are bought from fifty cents to two dol- 
lars and a half from the peasants. Some of them 
are very handsome, and would bring ten times their 
price here in America. Many of the lambs are killed 
for their hides alone, and the springtime is when 
the poor as well as the rich can have cheap meat. 
The ordinary astrakhan takes its name from the 
Russian town of Astrakhan, on the Caspian, which 
has always been famous for the best lamb-skins. 
They are brought, however, from the highlands of 
Persia, although a considerable quantity is produced 
on the Russian side of the Caspian. 

The goat-skins of Persia are highly prized by 
those requiring warm linings for their heavy coats, 
for making Russian carriage rugs, and by the na- 
tives of the Caucasus for caps. Some of them are 
soft, warm, and have an excellent colour, being 
glossy black. 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 265 

The exportation of raisins from Persia is an in- 
dustry that might be greatly increased. In every 
part of the country there are sheltered nooks on 
the hills supplied with an abundance of water, 
where the finest qualities of grapes can be grown 
at almost no cost. At present, the regions about 
Urumia, Kasvin, Hamadan, Ispahan, and Shiraz, 
are the greatest grape-growing regions. 

There are no mines in Persia except the tur- 
quoise, and she must import all her iron and steel 
manufactures. American stoves for heating, while 
few, are always sought after and are popular. 
The same can be said of American hardware. On 
several occasions, the writer has bought locks with 
American names, but the place of manufacture was 
very curiously spelled. Of course, they were in- 
ferior imitations of excellent American articles, 
made somewhere out of the country, as their mis- 
spelled labels indicated. 

Persian leather is only good for bookbinding. 
When I say only good for this one thing, I mean that 
for making boots and harness and other articles re- 
quiring a strong leather it cannot be compared with 
our American article. But for binding books it is 
excellent, and this art has been well developed in 
Persia. On the other hand, over two hundred thou- 
sand dollars' worth of leather articles were im- 
ported into the country last year. It would seem 
to offer a splendid opportunity for American boot 
and shoe dealers. The excellent leather saddlebags, 



266 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

medicine cases, and similar articles ought to find 
a ready market in Persia. 

The trade of northern Persia naturally belongs 
to Russia, while England will always control the 
Gulf. There are, however, a limited number of 
articles which Americans supply to Russia that 
would be most useful in north Persia. Among 
them we might name ploughs, and all other agri- 
cultural implements. Flour is more easily brought 
from Odessa, Marseilles, or Trieste than from 
America. On the other hand, as the country de- 
velops, there must be a demand for iron, brass, and 
steel manufactures. 

Up to a comparatively recent date the art of 
dentistry was practically unknown in Persia, ex- 
cept by a few Europeans. For many years, M. 
Hybennet, dentist to the Court, was the only one 
in Teheran. He rendered a great service to the 
people, as well as to the Court, by demonstrating 
the fact that extraction is not the sole remedy for 
toothache, and that this practice should not be left 
in the hands of the barbers. There are now in 
nearly all the larger towns a few good dentists, 
just as there are good doctors. Some of them are 
making a good deal out of their business, and are 
at the same time rendering a great service to the 
communities in which they are located. There is 
no reason why America, the land of dentistry, 
should not supply these men with their necessary 
outfits. America ought to get hold of this branch 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 267 

of trade, just as Germany is getting hold of the 
drug trade. 

These few points in regard to Persia's foreign 
commerce have been mentioned only to call attention 
to them as matters of general interest. It cannot 
be claimed by any one that Americans have been 
commercially ambitious in Persia when Russia sells 
her $16,714,616.00; Great Britain, $6,938,910.00; 
British India, $3,586,372.00; France, $1,682,- 
418.00; Austria-Hungary, $1,137,178.00; Ger- 
many, $573,620.00; China, $137,858.00; while the 
sales of the United States remain at the very modest 
figure of $22,618.00. 

Turning now to the natural resources of the coun- 
try, a number of which have already been men- 
tioned, we might say that any move that would 
supply the country with more trees would be a great 
blessing. This is being recognised more and more, 
and as one rides through the country he sees large 
groves of poplars planted by the water-ways. An 
ordinary poplar pole, of say eight to ten years' 
growth, will bring anywhere from fifty cents to 
two dollars and more in Teheran. On an acre of 
ground might be grown at least one thousand of 
these trees, leaving, after the expense of cultiva- 
tion, one thousand dollars profit at the end of ten 
years. Of course, if the cultivation of timber lands 
became more common, the price would be much 
less, and the expense of transport would not be 
decreased. 



268 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

The methods of sowing and reaping the grain 
could also be greatly improved. The methods now 
used were those used in Nineveh and Babylon, and 
are really more expensive than modern machinery. 
The fact that the summers are long and hot, free 
from rain, makes it possible to delay the reaping 
of the wheat until it is convenient to do it. The 
grain is hard, and when ground, makes very good 
flour. The mills are equally primitive in their con- 
struction, being only two crude stones, all run by 
water. 

Petroleum has been found in the region below 
Kermanshah, but whether or not in such quanti- 
ties as to prove profitable has not yet been de- 
termined. Until there are better means of trans- 
portation, it will be impossible for the company 
to reach Teheran and the larger places with their 
products, even though they find oil in paying 
quantities. 

The turquoise mines, on the road to Meshed, are 
said to be less profitable since the discovery of the 
mines in Arizona. The American turquoise is su- 
perior to the Oriental ones, being harder and less 
liable to change colour. The Persian stone, if kept 
thoroughly clean and free from soap and water, is 
very handsome, and is a general favourite in the 
East. 

The unit of weight in all transactions in Persia 
is the miscal, seventy-one English grains or ninety- 
six Persian grains. Four Persian grains make a 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 269 

nakhod, while sixteen miscals are called a seer. Five 
seers are reckoned a kervankeh, while heavy articles 
are sold by the batman or man. This latter weight 
varies in different parts of the country, from six 
and a half pounds to one hundred and sixteen 
pounds ( 1 16.8). Wheat, barley, straw, wood, and 
coal are sold by this weight in small quantities, 
but, if in large quantities, the kharvar is used. In 
Teheran, one hundred mans make a kharvar. The 
unit of measure is the zair, about 40.95 inches. Six 
thousand zairs, a little less than four miles (3.87), 
make a farsakh, or, as the Greeks called it, a para- 
sang. The measure of surface is the jerib, 1,066 
square zairs, or 1,294 square yards. 

The monetary unit is the kran, a silver coin, 
now weighing seventy-one grains, or somewhat less. 
The proportion of pure silver is about eighty-nine 
and a half per cent. Large business transactions, 
however, are reckoned in tomans, the toman being 
nearer to our dollar than any other standard of 
currency. Roughly Speaking, the dollar equals a 
toman, and our dime equals the kran. The cur- 
rency of the country, being on a silver basis, the 
value of the toman fluctuates with every change in 
the price of silver. This fluctuation is often ex- 
treme, as during the Russian- Japanese war, when 
the kran rose in value to the unprecedented price of 
nearly thirteen cents, while, a year after the close 
of the war, it fell to less than nine cents. Even 
in different parts of the country exchange on Lon- 



270 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

don or New York brings different prices on the 
same date, local conditions affecting the supply and 
demand for money. 

The word pul, pronounced pool, is the general 
term for currency, but, in fact, it is the smallest 
copper coin, equal in value to about one-fourth of 
a cent. When fifty krans, or five tomans, are equal 
to the pound sterling, the coins in general circula- 
tion have the following value, the value of the cop- 
per coins, however, being only approximate: 



Pul equals 


.24 


cents- 


-Copper 


Shahi " 


.48 


tt 


tt 


Two Shahis 


.96 


<( 


t* 


Five Shahis " 


2.4 


n 


1 1 


Ten Shahis 


4.9 


11 


Silver 


One Kran, also called Hizar . " 


9.8 


1 1 


(i 


Two Krans, " Do Hizar " 


19.6 


* i 


it 


Five Krans, 4< Panj Hizar " 


49. 


n 


n 


Toman, ten Krans . . . " 


98. 


<< 


Paper 


Three Tomans . . . " 


$2.94 




tt 


Five Tomans . . . . " 


4.90 




a 



There are also bank-notes of ten, twenty, fifty, 
and higher denominations, that circulate at par with 
coin. Gold is not much in use, but coins of one- 
fourth, one-half, and one toman are frequently 
seen, while those of two, five, ten, and even twenty, 
may be obtained. The kran is commonly called 
one hizar, because there are one thousand dinars 
in it, the word hizar meaning a thousand, in 
Persian. There is, of course, no such coin as a 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 271 

dinar, any more than there is a mill in American 
currency, but the people continue to reckon small 
accounts in this now imaginary coin. Formerly, 
the dinar was equal to the present value of the 
kran. 

There is a very good story of a European who 
had a horse presented to him by a Persian noble- 
man for some service. The value of the horse was 
twenty dollars only, but in writing home he stated 
that the animal had been valued at two hundred 
thousand dinars ! Many a truth has hidden in it the 
intention to deceive ! 

The Imperial Bank of Persia purchased the 
Persian branch of the Oriental Bank in 1889. 
Since then, it has been the most important factor 
in Persia's financial system. It has rendered a great 
service to the people of Persia in establishing a 
system of currency which has commanded their re- 
spect and confidence. In times of distress it has 
loaned the government funds. Especially did it 
render a great service when it advanced funds with 
which to pay the troops, when Nasr-ed-Din Shah 
was assassinated in 1896. This was done through 
Mr. Joseph Rabino, the manager, who thoroughly 
understood the Persian situation, and had a mas- 
terly grasp of Oriental finance. 

Besides the Imperial Bank of Persia, which is 
thoroughly an English corporation, there is a Rus- 
sian bank that has loaned immense sums to the 
merchants having business transactions in Russia. 



272 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

In the bazaars there are numerous money-lenders 
and small bankers. 

Since the inauguration of the National Assembly, 
a determined move has been made by the govern- 
ment to establish a Persian National Bank. A 
Reuter's telegram from Teheran states that the con- 
cession for the National Bank of Persia has been 
signed. The principal conditions are as follows: 
"The capital is 15,000,000 tomans. Foreigners are 
excluded from participation. All governmental 
revenues, not mortgaged, are to be collected, and 
all expenditure paid by the bank on behalf of the 
government. The bank is empowered to contract 
mortgages and loans, local and foreign, in ac- 
cordance with the sacred law. The bank will have 
priority over all other institutions which may offer 
the same terms in regard to mines, the pearl fishery 
in the Persian Gulf, the construction of roads and 
railways, and will have the right to issue bank- 
notes when the Imperial Bank of Persia ceases op- 
erations through the expiry of its concessions, or 
from any other cause. A separate agreement is to 
be concluded between the bank and the govern- 
ment, under which the latter borrows from the 
bank 2,000,000 tomans at nine per cent., one-half 
of the amount being payable before and one-half 
after March 1, 1908. An additional clause stipu- 
lates that the bank concession shall be annulled if 
the money is not forthcoming. The Assembly will 
of course extend the time, if necessary." In com- 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 273 

meriting on the foregoing, the London " Financial 
Times " adds : " The Imperial Bank of Persia pos- 
sesses the sole privilege of issuing bank-notes in 
Persia for fifty years to come." 

The clause in the foregoing touching upon the 
sacred law clearly indicates that the Shahr is still 
to take precedence over the Urf. It would seem, 
notwithstanding its parliament or national assem- 
bly, that Persia is likely to remain for many years 
to come a theocracy. The Shahr is the sacred law, 
which is administered in nearly all civil cases by 
the priests or high priests of the community. It is 
based upon the Koran, and is held in much higher 
esteem by the faithful than the decrees of parlia- 
ments and even of executives. No one in Persia 
would think of buying real estate without having 
the seal of some well-known ecclesiastic upon it. 
It would be quite unsafe to do so, unless the pur- 
chaser was backed by some powerful influence, in 
which case his heirs would probably be confronted 
with all sorts of lawsuits and litigation. This code 
of Persia, which is paramount in all business mat- 
ters that would be settled by civil law in Amer- 
ica, is divided into four parts: religious rites and 
duties, business and commercial obligations, sani- 
tary and religious duties concerning the person, 
and the last touching upon the questions growing 
out of the use of clean or defiled foods, penalties 
for certain crimes, and misdemeanours against the 
civil law. Just as the scope of our law has been 



274 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

enlarged by the decisions of the high courts, so the 
Shahr of Persia has had added to it many interpre- 
tations by those who have for centuries admin- 
istered it. If we were able to trace back certain of 
its clauses that we think most extraordinary we 
would find, doubtless, that they had their origin 
in the Jewish nation before the time of Abraham. 
They have the central purpose of turning men 
toward the path of duty, notwithstanding the many 
abuses and extraordinary features that have crept 
in. But it takes more than a law to turn the hearts 
of any people into the straight and narrow path. 
The strong hold this law has upon its people, 
the conviction in their minds that it is without error, 
and consequently forbids an appeal, makes foreign 
capital timid in entering the country, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that many of their laws are sound, and 
many of their practices are not unwise. Nothing 
will ever make it a desirable place for investments 
until there is an awakened public conscience and 
many social and economic reforms. 

The ordinary criminal may be judged by the 
Shahr, or sacred law, but is usually turned over, 
often with contempt, to the tender mercies of the 
Urf. Instead of a priest sitting as judge, it is 
usually a provincial governor, or some petty officer. 
Many are punished in Persia by the police without 
the form of a trial in court. No Persian subject is 
too small, or for that matter too big, to escape the 
bastinado. This public whipping does not seem to 




SOME OF THE PERSIAN CONSTABULARY. 

This force is numerous in Teheran. They are the Shah's messengers, and 
are greatly feared by the populace. Punishment such as whipping is 
often inflicted by them. 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 275 

carry with it any special disgrace. The truant boy, 
the impudent young man as well as the thief, has 
to " eat wood/' as they call it. The punishment 
may consist of great " bluff " and few sticks, or 
great stick and few " bluffs." The victim is laid 
on his back, his heels lashed to a pole, the ends of 
the pole being then raised to expose the soles of his 
feet. The police then apply the sticks to his bare 
feet. When it is desirable to add a good dose of 
" bluff " to the affair, the public executioner is called 
to administer the sticks. The provincial governor 
would hesitate, with few exceptions, to take the life 
of a criminal without communicating with the Shah. 
The chiefs of the Urf are not so cruel as they 
are frequently represented to be. Punishments that 
might be thought too severe in America would be 
considered childish in Persia. 

It is always unfortunate for a rich man to fall 
into the hands of the law anywhere, and especially 
is this true in Persia. Often the most severe sen- 
tence is inflicted, and the judgment stands if a good 
deal of money is not forthcoming. It is a common 
remark that the machinery of the law has to be oiled 
with " palm oil." 

Realising this feature of the law, it has made ar- 
bitration much more popular in the business and 
commercial world in Persia. In bankruptcy, and in 
all disputes between leading merchants, the mejlis 
or council is employed. In some places, these 
boards of arbitration are permanent, the members 



276 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

having entered into an agreement to stand by their 
decision. In such a body, there would be little 
chance for bribery and crookedness. If there is 
cause for complaint against a member, a messenger 
is sent with a polite note asking him to meet the 
plaintiff at the home of the chief of the board of 
arbitration. Both the defendant and the plaintiff 
being present, all documents bearing upon the case 
are inspected. If the witnesses are not sworn on 
the Koran, there may be a great deal of lying and 
false testimony. If, however, the witnesses are 
sworn, it is not very hard to arrive at the truth. 
The disinclination of the Persian to take this oath, 
even when he is ready to tell the truth, precludes 
its use except in extreme cases. 

The taking of an oath by many of the poorer 
classes is little short of jeopardising their chance 
of Eternity. And yet it is sometimes curiously 
evaded or got around. The story is told of a man 
who gave his promise that if an old enemy would 
come to see him he would not hurt him, that it was 
his desire to make friends and live in peace. His 
enemy required an oath on the Koran, which said 
that before injuring him the man would prefer the 
grave. His enemy came and was treated with 
courtesy, but after leaving the house he was shot. It 
seems that the man had dug a grave and had slipped 
into it, and had fired the fatal shot concealed in it. 
It must be said that in nearly all civil cases, such as 
contracts, obligations, and even bankruptcy, a com- 



COMMERCE, INDUSTRIES 277 

promise is urged. Nearly all the Persians are 
lovers of peace and good-fellowship, notwithstand- 
ing their tempers, which so frequently cause them 
to make exhibitions of themselves. 

It is very easy to see how these three systems of 
administering law and justice must necessarily often 
conflict, and, as there is no supreme court, the diffi- 
culty must be settled by an appeal to the Shah, or 
to one of the high Mohammedan ecclesiastics. An 
opinion given by the Imaum-Juma in Teheran will 
stand, and no one, of course, would question a set- 
tlement brought about by so exalted an authority as 
the Shah. 

Cases against foreigners residing in Persia are 
considered extra-judicial, and are matters for the 
consideration of the Foreign Office. Usually, how- 
ever, the European's legation or consulate takes up 
the matter and brings about a satisfactory settle- 
ment. When the European is the plaintiff and the 
Persian is the defendant, the question can be quickly 
settled if it is a criminal case and falls within the 
province of the Urf. If, however, it is a case in- 
volving much money and falls into the hands of the 
administrators of civil justice, the case may drag 
along for years, the settlement depending largely 
upon the activity of his legation or consulate, as the 
case happens. 

There is no extradition treaty between the United 
States and Persia, and up to this time there is no 
record of this fact having been taken advantage of. 



278 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

It would be interesting to know just what might 
happen if a murderer or criminal should seek refuge 
there. For one to go to Persia to remain idle for 
years, simply to escape arrest and punishment, 
would seem to be enough to deter any one from try- 
ing it. If such a case did happen, the course of the 
Persian authorities would be that recommended by 
the legation interested, in all probability. 

The new tariff laws of Persia, enacted in 1903, 
have a reciprocal clause which has been complied 
with by the Russian Government. Before this en- 
actment, a few krans were charged as an entrance 
fee at the port, regardless of values and contents. 
The new laws are not exorbitant, and the country 
badly needs the revenues. Certainly as Americans 
we cannot object to high tariff rates, so long as we 
impose higher ones upon goods entering our own 
ports. 



XVI 
THE PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 

THE Persian Government, for the purpose 
of description, may be divided into three 
departments, viz., The Court, the Minis- 
terial Departments, and the National Assembly. 
While these three divisions of the government are 
separate, yet they are so interlaced that in many 
ways they are one. Until 1906, the government 
of Persia was an absolute monarchy. The Shah 
is yet the Supreme Ruler, Executive, and Counsel- 
lor, in every department, although, by the inaugura- 
tion of the National Assembly or Parliament, his 
rights have been more sharply defined. 

There seems to exist in the minds of many Amer- 
icans not a few misapprehensions concerning the 
Persian Court, and especially concerning the last 
three rulers of that ancient and historic country. 
In a short chapter, one can touch only upon a few 
of the more prominent features of the Court and its 
centre, the Shah, but it is a pleasure to correct some 
of the erroneous reports that one often sees in the 
newspapers. These have arisen by writers who have 
not lived in the country, mere travellers on the hunt 

279 



280 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

for all that is new and sensational, often deeply 
prejudiced against the Oriental, sending home for 
publication their highly-coloured articles. These 
distorted accounts are also often the result of trying 
to measure everything in Persia by our Western 
conception of how things ought to be. To interpret 
the Orient, we must turn the pages of history back 
many centuries and remember, far beyond the date 
of the discovery of America, long before the power 
of our English ancestors was felt in the East, that 
then Persia was enjoying a high state of civilisation 
and culture. Even if there are apathy, graft, and 
consequent weakness, we must approach the consid- 
eration of her internal affairs with fairness, if we 
are to understand aright, remembering that in all 
European and American governments there are 
features that may be improved. Had Persia taken 
all the free advice that has been extended to her by 
various writers, she would be to-day a paradise and 
model for the world. 

Persia is a country whose list of heroes includes 
Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes, Khosroe, and the long list 
of Parthian kings, to say nothing of the later ones, 
who, as late as two hundred years ago, proved their 
prowess by their wars upon India. In a public 
square just in front of the Palace, in Teheran, is a 
large cannon captured by Nadir Shah in his attack 
upon Delhi, and it is said that many of the royal 
treasures are of Indian origin. The large stone 
bridges, caravansaries or inns, that one sees on 




THE CROWN PRINCE OF PERSIA. 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 281 

every hand in travelling over the country, were built 
by the modern king, Shah Abbas. 

That the names and titles of the Shah of Persia 
are many is not strange, when we remember the 
splendour of this Court when the patriarchal idea of 
government alone prevailed. Then, too, the Ori- 
ental desires these things; indeed, he would not be 
satisfied with our simple methods of transacting 
public affairs. There is nothing selfish about this 
idea, and officials of every class and nation are hon- 
oured in Persia. A few years ago, when Muzaffar- 
ed-Din Shah sent an embassy to Washington to 
announce the succession of his eldest son, The 
Prince, as the Heir Apparent to the Throne, the 
simple methods of our government officials were 
severely criticised, and had it not been for the tact- 
ful handling of the question by the American Charge 
in Teheran, the new American Minister, then on his 
way to Persia, would have had a cool reception. 
Notwithstanding the fact that the American Gov- 
ernment had made no arrangements for the enter- 
tainment of its guests, the Persians forgave all, and 
sent the usual host with an escort to the Caspian to 
meet the Minister and conduct him with all honour 
over the two hundred miles from the sea to the 
Capital. 

Every minister or other diplomatic officer sent to 
Teheran is considered the guest of the country in a 
very special manner. He is met at Enzeli by a 
Mamondar, or host. When it is announced to the 



282 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Court that a new minister is on the road to Persia, 
this gentleman gathers about him his servants, gets 
his instructions from the Government, and proceeds 
to the frontier to meet the distinguished visitor. 
The Minister is treated as the guest of the Govern- 
ment, all along the route — special honour being 
shown him. As he approaches the Capital, he is 
met by a military escort and conducted to his lega- 
tion with much ceremony and brass-band music. 
After his arrival, it is usual for the Shah to send 
him a riding horse, and on national fete days, such 
as the Fourth of July, it is not unusual for the Gov- 
ernment to formally participate in the celebration by 
sending some little refreshments to be served with 
those of the Minister. 

The various heads of the legations in Teheran 
are a mighty influence in all affairs of a political 
and social character. More than once storms having 
their origin in the tea-cups have gained in velocity 
until they shook the whole community. Unfor- 
tunately, this sort of thing promises to get worse 
instead of better. If the diplomatic body, backed 
by their governments, could unite in the sole pur- 
pose of assisting Persia to regain her former pres- 
tige, it would be a blessed thing for the country. 
But when this comes about we shall not be far from 
the millennium. 

The titles by which the Shah is addressed by his 
courtiers and subjects may be correctly translated 
into such exalted phrases as King of Kings, The 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 283 

Centre of the World, Asylum of the Universe, The 
Blessed, and other similar expressions. While these 
are intended by the Persians to exalt and honour 
their king, we must not forget that they are at the 
same time idioms, and are not to be translated liter- 
ally. Every one knows that we give the title of 
Mr. to many who lack much of being masters, and 
many an " Excellency " falls far short of the high 
mark that his title would seem to indicate. Just 
so it is with the titles of all Oriental rulers, they 
must be considered simply as a part of etiquette and 
ceremony. The high officials of the Court fre- 
quently refer to themselves as the King's Sacrifice. 

The chief officer of the Court is known by the 
title of Minister of Court, and he is responsible for 
all ceremonies and functions. He is not in the true 
sense an officer of the Government, and yet it is a 
position of such tremendous influence that those 
holding it are recognised among the most impor- 
tant officials of the kingdom. Under him are a dozen 
or more bashees, or heads of subordinate depart- 
ments, such as master of the horse, master of the 
chase, chief of the guard, chief of the escort, chief 
barber, chief gardener, and chief of the eunuchs. 
These latter are both white and black, and are the 
personal attendants of the ladies of the harem. Be- 
sides these, there are musicians, painters, readers, 
and many others employed in the royal household. 

Among this great number are not a few Africans, 
there being no prejudice against a man in Persia 



284 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

because of his colour. I do not now recall ever 
seeing a black man or woman working in the fields, 
and even the black slave considers himself in a 
better position than many of the paid servants. They 
are the stewards of many households, and are 
treated with more consideration and favour than are 
the white paid servants. Their position for life is 
usually secure, and many are rich and well-to-do. 
The women are often married to white men. If 
the Persian slaveholder be of high rank and meets 
with reverses, his shorn, or honour will not allow him 
to sell the slaves; he nearly always frees them. This, 
however, often proves a punishment rather than a 
blessing, for many of them thus turned loose must 
seek another master, or fare badly. But notwith- 
standing these features, slavery is always a curse, 
both to the master as well as to the enslaved, and the 
number of slaves in Persia is rapidly and surely de- 
creasing. 

The chief vices in all these large households are 
those of greed, intrigue, and scandal. There are 
always some drunkards and opium-smokers, but in 
the royal household a closer watch is kept on the 
servants, and these things are now not especially 
common. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the Court costs 
Persia not less than half a million of dollars an- 
nually, the habits of the king are always compara- 
tively simple. He rises at an early hour, has a light 
breakfast, consisting of some tea and bread, with a 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 285 

little cheese, then comes the kalyan or water-pipe, 
and immediately afterward the duties of the day 
are taken up. At noon, a luncheon is served, and, 
although there are many dishes, only a few are par- 
taken of. In the afternoon, tea is again served. 
Dinner is usually served in the anderoon. 

Several times each week His Majesty goes for a 
drive to one of his near-by palaces or gardens. The 
master of the escort arranges for this by sending 
his men along the road, where they are stationed at 
street corners and other points where there might 
be disturbances. The Shah usually rides in a closed 
carriage, drawn by six horses, if the automobile is 
not chosen. In any case, he is surrounded by a 
guard of a hundred horsemen, all heavily armed. 
This guard is considered one of honour as well as 
for protection. In Persia they have a curious habit 
of dyeing the tails of the horses a sort of light red. 
It seems a much less cruel method of marking the 
government animals than the older one of brand- 
ing, as is still practised in 'some of our Western 
States. 

The master of the chase has a very important 
post, as no pleasure of the Court is more highly 
prized than that of the hunt. All to the east of 
Teheran are the great preserves of the Court. The 
region is mountainous and is filled with big as well 
as little game. The bigger game consists of a kind 
of panther, called by the Persians pulang, wild boar, 
and mountain goats. There are a few elk, but of 



286 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

small variety. There is an abundance of small game, 
such as foxes, hares, and pheasants. The Persian 
hare is even larger than the American jack-rabbit, 
and, to those fond of the chase, it is a splendid sight 
to see the hounds following one of these long-legged 
hares at full speed. 

The great hunt of the Court is usually in mid- 
winter and is conducted from Jarge Rud. At this 
point, there is a shooting pavilion, where the Shah 
makes his headquarters, with not less than five thou- 
sand attendants. As these must remain in tents, 
it is a pretty severe test of loyalty on the part of the 
men. But they are always anxious to go, and are 
able to make themselves fairly comfortable in their 
double-lined tents with charcoal fires. They gener- 
ally remain out for at least a fortnight, and some- 
times longer, in which case the Prime Minister and 
other high officials accompany the party. 

With this great number of people, it is evident 
that the medical department of the Court is not an 
unimportant one. Indeed, it is one of the most im- 
portant. Soon after the Crimean War, Nasr-ed-Din 
Shah requested the French Government to send one 
of their best men to Persia, as the European doctor 
to the Court. The choice fell upon a young French 
surgeon who had been with the troops at the mem- 
orable fight at Sevastopol, and who was acquainted 
somewhat with Oriental character. For more than 
forty years Dr. Tholozon faithfully followed the 
fortunes of his royal master, dying at the age of 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 287 

seventy-eight, a few years after the assassination of 
his chief, and lies buried in the Catholic cemetery at 
Teheran. Although he had been decorated by nearly 
every sovereign in Europe, great as these honours 
were, he valued more the love and esteem of the 
Persian people, and it is probable that no European 
was ever esteemed higher by any Oriental people 
than was Sir Joseph Tholozon. 

Before Dr. Tholozon's death he requested an as- 
sistant, and Dr. Schneider of the French army was 
sent to Teheran. He remained for more than 
twelve years as one of the Court physicians, and, in 
addition to this, was instrumental in reorganizing the 
Conseil Sanitaire, the National Board of Health. 
This organisation, composed of the leading phy- 
sicians of the country, succeeded in stamping out 
the plague, and has done excellent service in many 
ways. Dr. Schneider, upon his return to his post 
in the army, left Dr. Coppin as the French medical 
representative at the Court. 

The Hon. Dr. Lennox Lindley is the representa- 
tive of English medicine on the staff. During the 
reign of the late Shah, he was chief of the Staff. 
Sir Hugh Adcock, who succeeded the American 
physician, Dr. Holmes, while the late Shah was yet 
the Heir-Apparent, was the predecessor of Dr. 
Lindley, and rendered fifteen years of service to the 
Court. 

At various times consulting staffs, from among 
the representatives of Western medicine at the Capi- 



288 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

tal, have been deemed necessary by the physicians at 
Court. For instance, during the severe and pro- 
longed illness of the late Shah, a consulting staff was 
instituted, consisting of Dr. Scott, Medical Superin- 
tendent of the Indo-European Telegraph Depart- 
ment; Dr. Sadowsky, surgeon to the Cossack Bri- 
gade in Teheran, and the present writer. This staff 
assisted the regular physicians for several months 
in attendance on the royal patient. 

The Indo-European Telegraph Department of the 
Indian Government has a well-equipped dispensary 
in Teheran, which, under the direction of its medical 
superintendent, is proving a great blessing to many. 
But its greatest work to the Persian Government has 
been along the Gulf, in helping to keep back epi- 
demics of cholera and plague that have threatened 
Persia. This work is all under the direction of Dr. 
Scott, of Teheran. 

In this connection the writer would like to speak 
of the work of another English doctor, who, before 
his untimely death, had been frequently connected 
with the Court in an unofficial way. I refer to the 
late Dr. Odling, for many years physician to the 
British legation. During his nearly thirty-five years 
in Persia he rendered, daily, a splendid service to 
every class, from the king to the peasant. His 
grave in the Protestant cemetery at Teheran bears 
the appropriate inscription, " Where the tree grew 
there let it fall." Since Dr. Odling's death the 
British Government has continued this work under 






PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 289 

the direction of Dr. Neligan, physician to the 
Legation. 

It would seem that with this number, together 
with several medical professors in the Royal College, 
the public health, as well as that of the Court, would 
be well cared for. And yet the country, with nine 
and a half million population, has less than fifty 
regularly qualified doctors. The people have not 
been educated to pay adequately for medical treat- 
ment, except the very rich. 

On two occasions celebrated specialists have been 
called to Persia. For this service an oculist is said 
to have been paid $35,000 and his expenses, while 
the German specialist called in to see the late Shah 
was paid about $26,000 and his expenses for one 
month's service. It is needless here to remark that 
the missionary doctors have not shared in these 
large fees. 

In the Palace are an excellent laboratory and phar- 
macy, under the direction of a skilled French chem- 
ist. Here all sorts of examinations are made for 
the doctors, while the various public water and food 
supplies of the town may be investigated by those 
desiring to do so. This, like many other innova- 
tions in Persia, is of recent date. 

The Ministry, consisting of the Sadr-Azam, or 
Prime Minister; the Sapar Salar, or Commander- 
in-Chief of the army; the Minister for Foreign 
Affairs; a Treasurer-General; and Ministers of Post, 
Telegraph, Science, and Public Construction are 



290 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

nominated by the Crown and confirmed by the Na- 
tional Assembly. During the past two years, owing 
to the political changes that have swept over the 
country, the Ministry has changed frequently. It is 
evident that the reforms that have been inaugurated 
are going to make the work of the heads of the 
various departments of government much more 
difficult than in former years. Many of the offices 
of the public service offer good financial berths, in 
the way both of salaries and perquisites. To hold 
one of these offices naturally adds greatly to the 
shan or honour of the individual, and this feature 
appeals mightily to the Oriental. One of the abuses 
that the Reform Party, through the National As- 
sembly, has been seeking to correct is the paying of 
salaries to a host of grandees who take no thought 
for raiment, toiling not, neither do they spin, and 
yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 
like one of these. This is not a literal quotation, 
but it seems to fit the case very well ! 

The paying of pensions to any and all sorts of peo- 
ple has been a crying evil, that will soon be corrected. 
It began in ages past by granting from the public 
treasury small stipends to the families of certain 
favourites. The recipient may be the son or daugh- 
ter of some high official, who may have rendered 
some service for which he was at the time paid, or 
it may be the son or daughter of some servant of a 
grandee whose service was to him a personal one. 
Dozens of families in every large Persian town have 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 291 

some sort of salary from the government. Some 
of these are small, but the aggregate amounts to an 
enormous sum, that must be borne by the taxpayer. 
A great many native doctors have a small salary 
from the government. Some years ago, a doctor 
that was employed in our hospital applied tome to 
help him to secure a pension. I asked him upon 
what ground he proposed to apply for this grant. 
He replied, " I am getting to be an old man and my 
family is not provided for, and the kindness of the 
Shah is great." I signed his petition thinking noth- 
ing would come of it, but after some months he 
came to see me, and, with a beaming face, he said 
that a grant of one hundred dollars per year had 
been made to him and his family. Since his death, 
this pension has been paid with more or less reg- 
ularity. 

When Nasr-ed-Din Shah, some years ago, visited 
the American Mission school in Teheran, he sig- 
nalised it by a grant from the Public Treasury, to be 
paid annually at the Persian New Year. For some 
years the collection of this grant was not difficult, 
but, as time went on, it cost more than it was worth 
to collect it, and it was dropped. Not a few of these 
pensioners spend most of their time collecting their 
stipend. The man whose duty it is to pay them 
often is without funds, and the holders of these 
warrants must frequently wait a year for a single 
partial payment. A Persian sage once remarked, 
that a pensioner who had to collect his stipend was 



292 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

like unto a man who married a woman for her 
money — he earned it ! 

The most important office in the Persian Ministry 
is that of Sadr-Azam, or Prime Minister. He must 
represent the Crown in many ways, and is in daily 
conference with him. Not a few of these men have 
been exceedingly clever officers. Their work is 
always very heavy, and the social duties in a land 
like Persia are overwhelming. He is consulted on 
all sorts of questions, from the destruction of the 
grain-fields, in some remote province by grasshop- 
pers, to the negotiation of the Anglo-Russian agree- 
ment concerning Persia. He must live in state and 
entertain lavishly, and, while surrounded by much 
ceremony and etiquette, he cannot be exclusive. It 
is easier for the poor man to reach the Prime Min- 
ister in Persia than for the lower classes, in many 
western lands that claim to be democratic, to secure 
an audience with their head of the Department of 
State. On the other hand, the dinners and enter- 
tainments given by him in grand European style 
must be as brilliant as they can be made. 

The writer has had the pleasure and honour to 
attend these functions from time to time. I remem- 
ber one, probably the most brilliant ever given in the 
Persian capital, at which the whole European colony 
was invited to assist in celebrating the Shah's birth- 
day. The Prime Minister seemed to be at his best, 
and, as he moved from one room to another among 
his guests, very few understood that his resignation 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 293 

had already been accepted by his sovereign, whose 
birthday was being celebrated, and that horses were 
already provided to carry him into exile. The next 
day his downfall was announced, and he left for 
Kum, where he was detained for nearly two years. 
It has been an unwritten law that those who have 
held this high office must leave the Capital, and 
often the country, when there is a change of Min- 
istry. He later made a tour of the world, crossing 
the United States from San Francisco to New York. 
At New York, when he was leaving, he had the 
steamer held a half-hour while he took breakfast on 
shore. He explained his delay by saying that his 
appetite was never good on shipboard. 

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs is the one with 
which foreigners sojourning in Persia have the most 
to do. All private matters intended for the Foreign 
Office must come through a legation. It is only in 
extreme cases that a foreign minister deals directly 
with the Shah. All matters touching upon questions 
of ordinary importance are settled through the For- 
eign Office. There are a number of under-secre- 
taries, who have charge of the affairs of one or more 
countries. The affairs of Great Britain, and also 
those of Russia, are of such magnitude in Persia as 
to require one or more men each, while the affairs 
of those countries that have fewer subjects are usu- 
ally grouped until one under-secretary can care for 
the business of two or even more legations. The 
social duties devolving upon the Foreign Minister 



294 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

are but little less than those of the Prime 
Minister. 

The present postal system in Persia was inaugu- 
rated in 1875, when the country was admitted into 
the Postal Union. Now nearly every town big 
enough to have a bazaar is reached by the postal 
department. In most of the towns and villages let- 
ters are brought to the house by carriers. The post- 
age on all letters from the United States to any place 
in Persia is five cents, but the amount allowed is 
of course only that permitted by international 
agreement. Not a few of the letters that came to us 
were overweight, in which case we had not only to 
pay the extra postage but pay a fine of a few cents 
as well. But as all mail in Persia must be carried 
overland, usually on horseback, the government de- 
clines to deliver books and articles of merchandise 
throughout the country without extra postage. This 
seems only fair, for a dozen heavy volumes that 
might be carried on a postal car at home from New 
York to the Pacific for less than two dollars, would 
cost five times that amount to carry them across 
Persia on the backs of post-horses. The postal sys- 
tem in Persia is fairly satisfactory, considering the 
difficulties under which they labour. There are few 
roads, and many of the highways are infested with 
robbers and lawless people. When the Americans 
first went to Persia, in 1835, letters came every three 
months, and then through the kindness of the Brit- 
ish diplomatic officers. The English Consul-General 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 295 

in Tabriz allowed them to forward their letters to 
London by the British courier, and from London 
they were re-sent to America. This courier still 
makes trips to Persia bearing the despatches of the 
British Legation and her Consulates throughout the 
country. 

Every important town in Persia is reached by tele- 
graph. These messages are often slow and unsatis- 
factory in their despatch, but of late there has been a 
great improvement. On several occasions upon start- 
ing home I have sent messages from towns two hun- 
dred miles from Teheran, informing my friends of 
the time of my arrival there, and then have reached 
the Capital, on horseback, before the message had 
been delivered. Since the general introduction of 
the French language in these governmental posts, 
which permit the sending of messages in either 
English or French, we have found less difficulty in 
getting them through. Of course, the Persian lan- 
guage is the one generally used, but French or Eng- 
lish is known by nearly all the clerks and operators. 
The splendid management of the English telegraph 
has been a great example as well as a useful help 
in this department. 

The departments of science, education, and justice 
ought to be thoroughly reorganised, and they will 
doubtless be in time. It is obvious that without a 
better system of education there can be little hope for 
the country, and at the same time the need of an 
honest judiciary goes without saying. 



296 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

As yet no great work of public construction has 
been undertaken by the Persian Government. Until 
the administrative department is better organised it 
has been wisely given over to foreigners. These 
improvements have been confined to the construc- 
tion of trade routes, bridges, and the improvement 
of harbours. 

Passing now to the army, we find this one of the 
greatest items of expense. It is hard to discover the 
exact number of men in the Persian service, because 
so many are on paper and cannot be found. The 
length of service is often for twenty years. In times 
of peace, the soldier is expected to spend every third 
year in the army. There are usually ten thousand 
troops in Teheran, and it is safe to say that there 
are ten times this number throughout the country. 
They are obtained by requiring a certain district 
or village to furnish its quota of men for the 
army. Lots are cast, and those who are chosen 
must be supported by those who remain at home. 
In times of peace, the soldiers in the larger places 
are hired out as guards and gate-keepers. For this 
service they are paid one dollar per month, and they 
must board themselves. In addition to this, they 
receive a small stipend from the Department of 
War, together with two suits of cheap clothing per 
year. Little as their pay is, they must divide it with 
their superior officers. It is easy to see that their lot 
is not an enviable one, nor is it calculated to foster 
loyalty and beget deeds of bravery. 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 297 

Enough has been said to show that although the 
administration of government in Persia is simple, 
and still along patriarchal and paternal lines, it must 
cost a considerable sum to conduct it, and hence the 
collection and disbursement of the revenues consti- 
tute obviously important features of the national 
administration. The government gets its revenues 
from two sources, the customs and levies through 
the local governors. The former is not unlike our 
own system of taxation, and yields a great part of 
the public revenue. The latter is very unlike any- 
thing known in America. The government appoints 
a governor for one of the well-known provinces, 
with the understanding that a certain revenue will be 
forthcoming from the various districts under him. 
Sometimes these expectations are large enough to 
cause a governor to refuse an appointment. This is 
not always easy, as in the case of one of the writer's 
patients, who, being named governor of Urumia 
some years ago, resigned the appointment several 
times without his resignation being accepted. His 
refusal to leave the Capital for the post brought 
some of the guards from the government, with the 
warning that the sooner he went the better. He 
then went immediately. The same thing happened 
with the Prince Yamin-e-Sultan, for some time gov- 
ernor of Hamadan. He did not want the place at 
any price, but he was kept there regardless of his 
wishes. It is needless to say that such a policy will 
not commend itself to the people's business sense. 



298 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

There is, of course, a reason for such action, al- 
though the motives that prompt it are not always in 
evidence. 

These governors-general are responsible for the 
control of vast territories of land. In all the large 
towns are sub-governors, who, in turn, are over the 
katkhodas, or village masters. The latter are really 
the tax-gatherers of the country, sending their men 
to every land-owner and tax-payer. The rate of 
taxation varies in different regions, depending some- 
what upon the avariciousness of those in authority. 
In a general way, the rightful tax or assessment is 
not exorbitantly high; the sair, or what we would 
call a poll-tax, is about one dollar a year, while the 
land tax is but one or two per cent, of the value. A 
small tax is levied on all personal property, such as 
domestic animals, household goods, and grain that is 
stored. There is no income tax as far as money is 
concerned, but a part of the products of the field 
must always be turned over. Such a system encour- 
ages graft, oppression, and dishonesty, and must 
give way to the better and more modern plan of col- 
lecting the taxes of the country. 

This system of administration carries with it the 
right to imprison for debt, while the delinquents 
may be publicly whipped. To escape this, the peas- 
ants often take refuge in the mosques and other 
sacred places. This idea of refuge is more fully 
taken up in a subsequent chapter, touching upon the 
establishment of the Constitution. It is the most 



PERSIAN GOVERNMENT 299 

effective weapon the Persian people have with which 
to meet oppression. 

It is too soon now to say what changes in this 
ancient and historic government will be wrought, if 
any, by another National Assembly. It is a matter, 
obviously, of great interest to everybody, but we 
must not expect too much from such a legislative 
body, in view of recent happenings. There are 
strong men in Persia in full sympathy with this 
parliament idea and there are strong men who are 
not. But the step has been taken, and the nation is 
committed to it, and it is hard to see how the reac- 
tion that is bound to come can carry them back to 
the former regime. Strong men will be found in 
the future to deal with these new problems, just as 
they have been dealt with in the past. Changes and 
reforms are needed, but they must be inaugurated 
slowly and carefully by the friends of Persia, and 
this seems to be what is taking place at the present 
time. 



XVII 

THE ASSASSINATION OF NASR-ED-DIN 
SHAH 

MAY-DAY, 1896, in the Persian capital, 
was bright and warm. The city was pre- 
paring for the celebration of the golden 
jubilee of the Shah, which was to have begun five 
days later. The caravansaries and bazaars were 
filled with strangers, who had come from every part 
of the empire to join in the coming festivities; and 
the magnificent parks and gardens of the city, as if 
to give them a more hearty welcome, had put on 
their richest and brightest colours. On every hand 
were evidences of the coming celebration, and the 
heartiness with which all entered into the joy of the 
event was cordial enough to warm the heart of any 
ruler. The day being fine, the king, with the prime 
minister and other high officials, had driven out to 
the shrine of the Shah- Abdul- Azim, and at noon 
entered the mosque for prayer. In order to get into 
the inner, or more sacred part, of the mosque, it was 
necessary to pass through a narrow hallway or pas- 
sage, some ten or twelve feet long. As the Shah 
came out of this passage, he was met by an assassin, 

300 




NASR-ED-DIN SHAH. 
Grandfather of present ruler. Assassinated May i, 1906, after a reign 

of fifty years. 



SHAH ASSASSINATED 301 

dressed in the attire of a Persian woman, with a 
large revolver hidden beneath what appeared to be 
a letter of communication, which the king evidently 
thought he desired to present. Drawing near, the 
man suddenly threw aside the paper covering the 
weapon, and fired one shot, when he was caught by 
the guard, who prevented further bloodshed. The 
Shah made an attempt to walk away, but had taken 
only a step or two when he fell unconscious, gasping 
for breath. 

His Highness, the Sadr-Azam, was soon at his 
side, and never did a man display cooler judgment 
under trying circumstances than did this Prime 
Minister. Not knowing who was in the plot, or 
whether he would or would not be the next victim, 
he quietly gave out that the Shah had only received 
a flesh-wound, and sent for surgical aid. 

At his direction, the wounded king was seated 
in a closed carriage, with a man at his side to keep 
him from falling ; and orders were given to drive as 
quickly as possible to the Palace in the city. One of 
the messengers sent for medical aid came over to 
the mission hospital and hurriedly told us what had 
happened. Entering a carriage with him, we started 
for the scene of the tragedy, but had not gone far 
when we met the royal cavalcade returning to the 
city. As the king's carriage passed us, we saw the 
Shah, pale and evidently dangerously wounded, 
propped up in the seat of the carriage, while the 
Prime Minister was sitting in front of him fanning 



302 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

him, and seemingly in conversation with him. It 
was a clever deception, intended to deceive the pop- 
ulace, and the effect was all that would have been 
desired. 

The cavalcade consisted of a number of carriages, 
and perhaps one thousand mounted police, and they 
were driving furiously. Quickly turning our team 
about, we joined the company, and hurried to the 
Palace. Here we found His Majesty's able and 
faithful physician, who, like us, turned and joined 
in the cavalcade. The king was lifted into a chair 
and carried into one of the rooms, just off the Grand 
Audience-Chamber. As we lifted him from the 
chair to the lounge, we saw that it was too late for 
medical aid to be of any avail. An examination of 
the wound showed, as stated in the official announce- 
ment of his death to the public, that the ball had 
pierced the heart, and consequently his death must 
have followed quickly. 

Coming just before the jubilee celebration, the 
visit to the shrine had been a semi-official one, and 
the Shah had on many of his jewels. The room in 
which he lay was built by some of the former rulers, 
the ceiling and walls being covered with mirrors set 
in plaster-of-Paris. The bright afternoon sun 
poured into the room, and the thousand mirrors 
seemed to reflect their bright rays down upon the 
body of the dead king. All about us were the costly, 
luxurious furnishings of the palace. It was a pic- 
ture for an artist, a theme for the philosopher; but 



SHAH ASSASSINATED 303 

to us who stood there that afternoon it was an awful 
reality, for we realised what Persia had lost. 

For reasons of state it was not given out until the 
next day that the king was dead, although it was 
generally known that he had been shot. In the 
meantime, the Crown Prince was notified, and His 
Highness the Sadr-Azam was appointed regent until 
the new king arrived in Teheran from Tabriz. The 
day following the assassination, in all the mosques 
and from all the housetops the Crown Prince 
Muzaffar-ed-Din Mirza was proclaimed Shah of 
Shahs, and the people were urged by the mollahs to 
assist in keeping order. 

The assassin was at once arrested, the guards 
thinking the deed had been done by a woman, and 
their surprise and astonishment can well be imag- 
ined when the removal of the veil and chuddar 
showed their prisoner to be a man. He was a well- 
known person about town, and had always been con- 
sidered a crank. He had been arrested some two 
years before and thrown into prison for some petty 
crime, but, being considered of unsound mind, was 
liberated. Since then he had been in Constantinople, 
and claimed to have been a follower of one Jamel-ed- 
Din, a notorious political agitator. At least, some- 
thing further disturbed his already unbalanced mind 
until he was led to commit this crime. It may be that 
he was simply a tool in the hands of others. He 
was thrown into prison to remain until the arrival 
of the new Shah, who had him executed. He said 



304 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

that he was glad that he committed the deed, and 
that his only regret was that the guard had pre- 
vented him from taking his own life. By the super- 
stitious, it has been noted, that according to the Per- 
sian calendar it was the year 13 13. 

The reign of Nasr-ed-Din Shah was a long and 
beneficent one. Assuming the duties of his high 
office when a mere lad, he displayed unusual ability, 
which increased with years. He thoroughly under- 
stood his subjects, and the profound sorrow ex- 
pressed by all at his tragic death gave a touching 
manifestation of the esteem in which he was held 
by all. To the foreigner sojourning in Persia, he 
offered every possible protection, and it is only jus- 
tice to say that, while so-called newspaper enterprise 
in America was circulating for the amusement of 
the public all sorts of silly stories about him person- 
ally, he was treating the American in Persia as his 
guest. It would have been easy for him to have 
retaliated, but, instead, this generous treatment con- 
tinued until his death. 

Although he had been three times in Europe, 
spoke and read French fairly well, had written sev- 
eral books on his travels and experiences, and could 
draw and paint some, he was thoroughly an Ori- 
ental. He loved the chase, and his character seemed 
to partake of the ruggedness of his surroundings. 
He soon tired of the town and his palaces, and was 
never happier than when tenting in the fastness of 
the mountain, or in the forest of Mazanderan. Often 



SHAH ASSASSINATED 305 

in midwinter, when the snow was at its deepest, and 
the weather was as bad as it could well be, he would 
leave his comfortable fireside for a week's shooting 
in the valley of the Jarge Rud River. Though his 
manner was blunt and gruff, there was a kindness 
that shone through it. If any of his numerous 
household were ill, he took a personal interest in see- 
ing that they had every possible attention. 

But it was as a ruler and diplomatist that he dis- 
played the greatest ability. While Turkey on the 
west, and Afghanistan on the east, were often the 
scene of political disturbances, Persia moved peace- 
fully forward. With Russia encroaching on the 
north, and England not unmindful of her own inter- 
ests on the south, it took a clear head to steer the 
ship of state off the shoals. In the Provinces he 
kept order, and while in Asiatic Turkey a traveller 
was never safe without a guard, the banks of Per- 
sia were constantly sending by pack-mules to the 
provinces thousands of tomans of coin, without a 
single guard. He extended the same protection to 
his Christian subjects that was given to the Moham- 
medans, and it may well be remarked that while in 
the Sultan's empire the Armenians were being mas- 
sacred by the thousands, the Kurds of Persian Kur- 
distan were compelled to keep order. 

It was during his reign that diplomatic relations 
were established between the United States and Per- 
sia. The first Minister arrived in Teheran in June, 
1883, bearing the title of Minister-Resident and 



306 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Consul-General. This has since been changed to 
Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary. 
From 1835 to 1883 the interests of American citi- 
zens were cared for by France, Russia, and Great 
Britain. It is to the latter power that American cit- 
izens, next to their own government, owe most. 
Whenever needed, English diplomatic and consular 
officers have offered to American citizens the same 
aid and protection that were given to their own 
subjects. 

The establishment of an American Legation in 
Teheran naturally directed the attention of the Court 
to the United States. The first Minister, Mr. S. G. 
W. Benjamin, was able to secure for American cit- 
izens some valuable concessions, which, if the con- 
cessionaries had been able financially to carry for- 
ward, might have resulted profitably. There have 
been sent to Persia during the past twenty-five years 
eleven American Ministers, Messrs. Benjamin, 
Pratt, Hardy, Bowen, Griscom, and Jackson all 
having rendered especially valuable and acceptable 
service to American interests. 






XVIII 

MUZAFFAR-ED-DIN SHAH, AND THE 
CONSTITUTION 

MUZAFFAR-ED-DIN, the new Shah, was 
born March 20, 1853, his mother being 
the " Royal wife." His father, using 
his prescriptive right to appoint a successor, nomi- 
nated him his heir, although the Zil-e-Sultan, later 
governor of Ispahan, was the eldest son of the late 
king. His mother, however, was not the so-called 
" Royal wife," and so the throne went to his half- 
brother, who was given the title of Muzaffar-ed- 
Din. For many years there was a dangerous rivalry 
between these two brothers, but, as years passed by, 
it disappeared in a large measure, although prob- 
ably not entirely. 

The Crown Prince is never allowed to remain 
in Teheran, but is made governor of the prov- 
ince of Azerbaijan, with residence at Tabriz. 
Here the new Shah had been sent when a lad 
and put under the care of a Minister of Court, 
who was practically the governor. For thirty years 
this arrangement continued, the Minister of Court 
changing, but the young governor not being allowed 
to leave the post, except by consent of his royal 

307 



308 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

father. Tabriz, while being next to Teheran the 
largest and most important city in the kingdom, can 
hardly be said to be a place for the education of a 
future sovereign. And yet the new king was not 
without a certain dignity, and had many liberal and 
broad ideas for his people. While he was governor 
at Tabriz, he had for some years an American phy- 
sician, in Dr. George W. Holmes, a man peculiarly 
fitted as a doctor and adviser to the Prince. Dr. 
Holmes declined the post of one of the Court phy- 
sicians when Muzaffar-ed-Din ascended the throne, 
preferring to return to his medical missionary 
labours. The influence of those years upon the 
Heir-Apparent, exercised by the good American 
physician, engendered a love for the New World in 
the heart of the Prince that remained until his dying 
day. The writer remembers on more than one occa- 
sion when Muzaffar-ed-Din was on his deathbed, 
long after Dr. Holmes had withdrawn from Persia 
on account of ill health, how the mention of Dr. 
Holmes's name brought cheer and stimulus to the 
invalid. 

The new Shah was declared king in Tabriz imme- 
diately after the death of his father was confirmed. 
But as Tabriz lies many miles to the west of Tehe- 
ran, he did not arrive at the Capital until Sunday, 
June the seventh. The following day he was for- 
mally inaugurated into his high office, and immedi- 
ately afterward he received the diplomatic corps. 
Although the ordeal was a trying one for one who 







MUZAFFER-ED-DIX. 

The late Shah, born March 25, 1853, succeeded May 1, 1896, upon the 

assassination of his father, Xasr-ed-Din. Died January 9, 1907. 



MUZAFFAR-ED-DIN 309 

had never been beyond the boundaries of his own 
country, yet I remember as a spectator with what 
dignity and ease he received the various Ministers 
accredited to his country. 

Immediately after the inauguration of His 
Majesty, the Court withdrew to the country seat of 
Neaveran, remaining out of the city until autumn. 
The assassin of the late Shah was held in prison 
until late in August, when he was publicly hanged 
in the drill-grounds in the centre of the town. 

It seemed inconceivable, indeed it is not likely that 
any in authority even thought of it, that the act of 
this half-crazy man was the match by which a fire 
was set burning that was destined to sweep over the 
whole country and end only when a constitution had 
been given to the people. If time were measured by 
change and events, the ten years of Muzaffar-ed- 
Din's administration would be longer than the hun- 
dred preceding years. The Court party grew more 
and more corrupt and avaricious, with the logical 
result that the treasury was soon depleted. Even 
the gold plate was taken from the chairs and other 
articles in the Royal Museum and sold. The system 
of graft that was established was without parallel, 
and men who were a few years before working for 
fifty dollars per month now lived in palaces. A 
noted example of this was one of the Court doctors. 
He came to Teheran with the king penniless, and 
when he died, seven years later, his estate was worth 
over half a million. 



310 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

After the country had been thoroughly drained 
by the Court party, they succeeded in getting a loan 
from Russia, mortgaging the receipts of the custom- 
house for a period of years. A considerable num- 
ber of Europeans were employed in the posts and 
customs, and, had it not been for them, the country 
would have gone into absolute bankruptcy, although 
many of these unquestionably drew salaries that no 
Western government would think of paying for a 
similar service. 

In the meantime, the king had developed a serious 
illness and had to go to Europe to consult specialists. 
It would have been far cheaper and better had the 
specialists been brought to Teheran and His Majesty 
saved the long and hard journey to Europe. As 
the time approached for these European tours, the 
number of illnesses that had developed in the Court 
requiring European specialists was appalling, since 
it had been given out that those accompanying His 
Majesty were to have all their expenses paid and 
salaries continued. One young prince told me this 
story : 

" I was very anxious to see something of the 
colossal mechanism of life in Europe, and so I 
applied for permission to accompany His Majesty 
as a member of his suite, but was told that the party 
was already too large, and I could not go. After 
the king had gone, this longing for travel became 
intolerable and prevented me from sleeping. I then 
informed my mother, who furnished me with funds, 



MUZAFFAR-ED-DIN 311 

When I arrived in Paris, I found my friends there 
and some enemies, too, for some one informed the 
Shah of my presence in the retinue. His Majesty 
at once sent for me and demanded why I had come, 
after being refused permission to accompany the 
royal party. What could I do but tell him that I, 
too, was ill ? At this his face softened with a bland 
smile of incredulity and he inquired the nature of 
my malady. I told him that I had been advised to 
undergo a serious surgical operation that could only 
be performed in Paris ! At which, with much gra- 
ciousness, he insisted upon paying the bill. Again 
what could I do, for I had no thought of going to a 
surgeon, and, as for hospitals, the very smell of 
them always made me sick. The cold sweat stood 
out on my forehead when he told his scribe to write 
a line in French to a leading surgeon in Paris, and, 
turning to me with the note, said sternly, ' Bring me 
the doctor's reply/ I did have a little trouble, but 
which my doctor here thought required no treat- 
ment, much less surgical interference, yet I feared 
to see the surgeon lest he might advise an operation. 
Now that the Shah had asked him to examine me, I 
felt sure as to the result. Nor was I mistaken in 
my surmise, for the next day at ten o'clock I awoke 
from the ether suffering terribly, a Sister of Charity 
was speaking to me in French, which I did not 
understand, and my head ached almost to bursting 
from the horrid smells. I had been operated upon ! 
As soon as I was able to travel I was bundled up 



312 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

and sent back to Persia. Since then, my sleeping 
hours have never been disturbed by the desire for 
travel." 

Muzaffar-ed-Din, during the first year of his 
reign, appointed Emin-ed-Dovleh, in many ways 
the ablest man in Persia, to the post of prime min- 
ister. This gentleman was the best educated and 
most cultivated of any of the gentry, and what is 
even better — a true patriot. Had it not been for 
his foresight in reorganising the customs and posts, 
and thus saving the revenues of the country, disaster 
would have soon overtaken the administration. But 
his methods, intended for the country's good, natu- 
rally did not suit the Court party, who were anxious 
for their own interests; hence, in less than a year, 
he was deposed from office and spent the remaining 
days of his life away from the Capital. The writer 
knew him personally, having lived for several years 
in an adjoining compound, and, in recalling many 
conversations with him, I can hardly remember one 
in which he did not express the wish for the ad- 
vancement of his country. Every sort of interest, 
having for a purpose the betterment of the country 
and its people, could depend upon him as a staunch 
supporter. In his death, caused by disappointment 
and exile, Persia lost a wise statesman and a true 
patriot, and at an hour when her stock was rapidly 
declining and when she needed such as he the 
most. 

The king's health continued to grow worse, and 



MUZAFFAR-ED-DIN 313 

the political horizon was darkened with many 
clouds. Secret societies were being formed, where 
political questions were said to be discussed, and 
which the arm of the central government seemed 
impotent to put down. The situation was not im- 
proved by changes in the Ministry, while the unrest 
was made worse by the shortness of grain and the 
high price of bread. Cholera also appeared and car- 
ried off thousands of victims. At this psychological 
moment, in the summer of 1906, the officials under- 
took to arrest a Mohammedan priest, who did not 
hesitate to proclaim his political views, but who, 
very unwisely, in his public remarks attacked certain 
high officials, instead of the system that made mis- 
government possible. When the officers came to 
arrest him, his followers resisted the police and res- 
cued him from them. The soldiers were then called 
in, and in the riot that followed a number of citizens 
were killed, among them a sayid. This greatly 
aroused the people, and the bloody shirt of the 
sayid was carried through the streets, but the gov- 
ernment, now having matters well in hand, pre- 
vented further bloodshed. 

The bazaars were then closed, and the people 
adopted the plan of taking bast in the British Lega- 
tion, a sort of passive resistance. The word bast is 
from bastan, which means to tie, but in this sense is 
used to designate a custom wherein any one hav- 
ing a grievance, by taking refuge on the premises 
of a nobleman, may demand that the nobleman shall 



314 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

take up his cause, as though the bastee were one of 
his own household. If the police want him, they 
must starve him out. There was a man who sat 
for eight years in one of the legations in Teheran 
patiently awaiting the settlement of a small claim 
that he had against the Persian Government. Min- 
isters came and went, but he stayed on. At last his 
claim was paid, and he died celebrating his victory ! 
Few of the legations there would have the courage 
to put a man out, as it would bring down no small 
amount of opprobrium upon them. 

At the period of this political crisis, every shop 
in the great bazaar in Teheran was closed, and be- 
tween fifteen and twenty thousand men, merchants, 
artisans, and some priests, went into the English 
Legation and informed the acting Minister, who at 
the time was away at his country seat, that they 
were there to remain until the English Government 
took up their case with the Persian Government. 
Every line of business in Teheran was tied up by 
the strike, only the mails and the butcher and the 
baker were not interfered with. A half -ton of 
bread was required daily to feed the crowds, and all 
day long thousands read the Koran and appealed to 
Allah for help. A long-suffering and down-trodden 
people had surprised the world by suddenly awak- 
ening. At first, their demands were confined to re- 
forms, looking to the lowering of the price of bread 
and meat, and the lessening of graft in public office. 
For some time the Shah knew nothing of the true 




FIVE THOUSAND PRIESTS, MERCHANTS, AND ARTISANS 
MARCHING TO THE BRITISH LEGATION, TEHERAN. FOR 
REFUGE AT THE BEGINNING OF PERSIA'S POLITICAL 
TROUBLES, IN 1906. 



MUZAFFAR-ED-DIN 315 

situation, being ill at one of his country seats. When 
the facts were made known to him, he at once dis- 
missed Emin-ed-Dovleh, the Prime Minister, and 
with that sincere desire to please his constituency 
which was marked by almost every act, even to the 
point of weakness, he sent for the leaders of the 
Revolution for consultation. But Japan's victories 
in the far East had been felt throughout Asia, and 
during the weeks spent in bast by the revolutionists 
it had been decided that no permanent benefit could 
result from their efforts, unless they were given a 
voice in governmental affairs. At first, it was pro- 
posed to organise an advisory council, but later they 
determined to strike for a constitutional form of 
government, with a Parliament or National Assem- 
bly. The day for a half-loaf had passed, and the 
Shah and his advisers were glad to accede to the de- 
mands of the people. A committee was appointed to 
prepare a temporary constitution, the Shah having 
promised that he would officially declare it, which 
he did later. The people who had taken refuge in 
the British Legation returned to their homes, and 
business moved quietly on as before. It is worthy 
of remark here that all had been accomplished with- 
out the firing of a gun or the loss of a single life, 
except in the riots on the first day of the disturb- 
ances. Similar scenes have taken place at all the 
larger towns throughout the country without great 
bloodshed. 

At noon, on October seventh, at Teheran, the 



316 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

National Assembly was inaugurated. The week be- 
fore, throughout the various provinces of the king- 
dom, the first election in Persia had been held, but, 
in a land where railroads are unknown, only those 
delegates chosen from the districts in and about 
Teheran were present. The diplomatic corps were 
invited, and most of them were present. There was 
not a little complaint, however, because they were 
placed in a room overlooking the garden, where 
there was little to see, and where there was not much 
in evidence. It was Persia's day, and the Reform 
party wanted it understood that the Iranee, and not 
the Frangee, was in charge of affairs. The cere- 
monies took place in the Palace grounds amid the 
roar of the artillery, the noise of a half-dozen brass 
bands, and the usual amount of display. Every one 
seemed happy, save one — the Shah. The latter 
seemed to care little what happened, as he sat at an 
upper window of the Palace in a large arm-chair. 
As he looked out on the crowd below, his anxious, 
anaemic face told of the physical suffering he had 
endured from the disease that was slowly taking his 
life. His hands, more like wax than flesh, had 
signed the decree that was to change the whole sys- 
tem of government. Doubtless he shared the feel- 
ing of the Court, as expressed to the writer by one 
of the leading generals in the Guards, when he said : 
" The glory of the empire founded by Cyrus, son 
of Cambyses, is departed." On the Friday before 
there had been a consultation of physicians to deter- 



MUZAFFAR-ED-DIN 317 

mine whether the Shah had strength to endure the 
strain of the opening day of the Assembly. 

No one could find fault with the Speech from the 
Throne. Afterwards, the speech was photographed 
(no one is trusted in Persia), and later it was litho- 
graphed and sold in the streets. The speech was in 
part as follows : " Praise be to the Almighty. That 
which we have had in mind for years has, by the aid 
of God, come to pass, and we rejoice that our efforts 
are about to bear fruition by the inauguration of this 
National Assembly. To-day, it is indeed an auspi- 
cious occasion, for this event will unite more closely 
the Government with the people (Millett). The in- 
auguration of this Assembly is a public necessity, 
its purposes being to assist in executing the duties 
which until now have had to be carried on by the 
King. The various Ministers of State, heads of 
departments, gentry and nobility, tradesmen and the 
general public are united by the events of to-day in 
the responsibilities of the execution of righteous laws 
and the introduction of reforms. With these pur- 
poses in view, it is evident that there will be no place 
for selfish interest, especially covetousness. . . . 
It is evident that none of you were elected except 
for your talents and good characters, which are sup- 
posed to exceed those of the general public, and so 
let me admonish you to add to these qualities wis- 
dom and disinterestedness. Put your feet into the 
path of duty, and continue therein to the end, re- 
membering that, as the conduct of the child reflects 



318 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

the training given by the parent, so our Nation's 
prosperity or adversity will reflect your prudence 
and wisdom. Until now your interests were per- 
sonal, but to-day they are those of the Nation. So 
labour that you will not be answerable for wrong- 
doing unto God, or be ashamed in our presence. God 
is the keen observer of our efforts and ever-ready 
to defend you in well-doing. . . . God be with 
you. Go and perform faithfully your duties, for 
which you will be answerable." 

Since the preceding spring, when His Majesty 
had suffered from a stroke of paralysis, he had been 
confined most of the time to his room, and really 
knew little of what was going on outside of the Pal- 
ace grounds, the Mochir-ed-Dovleh, a most excellent 
man, being in a large measure responsible for gov- 
ernmental affairs. As the winter advanced, the 
Shah grew steadily worse; a consulting staff of local 
physicians was organised to assist the attending doc- 
tors. Later, the well-known specialist, Professor 
Damsch, of Gottingen, was called. While the life 
of the royal patient was prolonged several months 
by these efforts, the cause of the trouble, B right's 
disease, could not be cured, and the end came slowly 
and peacefully in the early days of the new year. 



XIX 

MOHAMMED ALI MIRZA, SHAH, AND 
POLITICAL REFORMS IN PERSIA 

JANUARY ninth dawned bright and warm in 
Teheran, and as men hurried to their places 
of business, they hardly stopped when told 
that during the night their king had died. " The 
King is dead, long live the King ! " seemed to be the 
sentiment of nearly all classes, the scene presenting 
on every hand that of quiet relief. For many weeks 
the Shah had been known to be hopelessly ill, and 
precautions had wisely been taken to preserve order. 
This foresight discounted the danger. About the 
only thing unusual to be observed on that memorable 
morning, was the presence of a few companies of 
gendarmes patrolling the streets, and an unusual 
number of carriages of grandees in the Avenue of 
the Ambassadors, hastening early in the morning to 
the palace. The official announcement merely 
stated : " The King of Kings now rests with his 
fathers." At the Palace everything was quiet. The 
curtain had simply been drawn.* Everything pos- 
sible for human hands to do had been done by 
His Majesty's untiring physicians and faithful 
attendants. 

319 



320 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

Owing to the disturbed condition of the country, 
many expected the lawless element to create serious 
disturbances, and this feeling was shared at not a 
few of the legations. The New York Herald and 
some of the London papers had special correspond- 
ents on the spot, but they had little to write. No 
official bulletins were issued during the Shah's ill- 
ness, but for those seeking news this difficulty was 
easily overcome. 

The general order that prevailed in Teheran and 
throughout the country during the change in admin- 
istration spoke well for the peace-loving qualities of 
the Persian people, as well as for the cleverness of 
those in authority. The Crown Prince had come 
on from Tabriz and was ready to take over the 
affairs of state. This was in striking contrast to con- 
ditions prevalent in 1896, at the time of his father's 
succession. His call to the throne came to him like 
a clap of thunder from a clear sky, while he was 
three hundred miles away, with no preparation for 
the long overland journey, and with really little 
desire for power. 

Mohammed Ali Mirza, Shahinshah, was born 
June 2i, 1872, and was crowned King of Iran at 
noon on Saturday, January 19, 1907. The cere- 
monies, attended by the diplomatic corps and wit- 
nessed by a number from the foreign colony, were 
in the afternoon. 

The ceremonies connected with the coronation of 
a Shah, while elaborate, are much simpler than in 



MOHAMMED ALI MIRZA 321 

many countries far more democratic. The ceremony- 
began by the high court dignitaries and the foreign 
diplomatic officers assembling at the Palace. Their 
place of rendezvous, for these officials at the Palace, 
is a small room in an outer court. From there they 
are conducted to the throne-room or the museum. 
The brilliancy of an Oriental Court consists in the 
quaintness and richness of the costumes worn. Some 
of these are very heavy and lined with fur. I re- 
member once being present at one of these functions 
late in June. By ancient custom they are always 
held an hour after mid-day, and a June afternoon 
in Teheran is hot. There was one officer who was 
heavily dressed in these furs, and with the stoicism 
born of greatness he stood the costume without com- 
plaint, although the perspiration streamed down his 
face. The day of the coronation of Mohammed 
AH Shah was fine overhead, and the streets of the 
citadel were crowded with thousands of people seek- 
ing to get a glimpse of the brilliant assembly. 

In the throne-room there was a striking picture, 
all the leading powers of the Western world being 
represented by ministers and other officers. As the 
royal procession entered the room, it was led by a 
brother of the new Shah, followed by a procession of 
high court officials, mollahs or Mohammedan priests, 
and the specially invited guests. The Prime Minister 
then advanced and placed on the head of the Prince 
the jewelled crown, while he was declared the sole 
and rightful heir to the Persian throne. At this 



322 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

moment, the chief mollah began to quote from the 
Koran. Later, a poem was recited which had been 
written for the occasion by the poet-laureate. All 
these exercises were conducted with the greatest dig- 
nity and decorum. The Shah then descended from 
the throne, and, with great self-possession and tact, 
he spoke to each foreign delegate in an informal and 
pleasant manner. As he retired from the room, the 
band played the national anthem, and the brilliant 
function came to an end. The city was illuminated, 
and there were popular rejoicings throughout. 

The Shah resembles his illustrious grandfather, 
Nasr-ed-Din, more than his father. He is short 
and stout, wearing glasses for short-sightedness, 
walks with a quick, firm step, and has the general 
bearing of a man that is quite sure of himself. He 
entered at once seriously upon his duties, being at 
his desk at nine o'clock in the morning. The writer 
had the honour to be received by him in the most 
informal and pleasant manner. He spoke of his 
admiration for America, and the great future for 
our country. He was also kind enough to refer to 
the work of the American missionary doctors whom 
he had known, especially those in west Persia, Drs. 
Vanneman and Cochran. To all who meet him, 
His Majesty is gracious, dignified, and tactful. 

Soon after the coronation, the Shah was bom- 
barded with complaints against M. Naus, a Belgian, 
who, as Minister of Customs and Posts, had gained 
a marvellous control over the whole country through 



MOHAMMED ALI MIRZA 323 

the paying of salaries and distribution of revenues. 
The complaints against him seemed to rest on the 
charge that he had let his ambitions lead him too far, 
while, on the other hand, it was not denied that the 
country financially was in a bad way, that the gov- 
ernment must have money, and that M. Naus was, 
probably, the best man to find it. The question of 
his retention in office hung fire for some months, 
until the Minister was attacked by a band of infu- 
riated men in the street. The attack was resented 
by the European colony, led by the various heads 
of legations. This protest was not made in order 
to keep him in office, but it was against making a 
European the object of an attack by irresponsible 
parties in the street. The opposition became so great 
that he was forced to leave the country. 

One of the charges used to stir up the people 
against M. Naus was that he attended a masquerade 
ball in the dress of a Mohammedan ecclesiastic, and 
had allowed himself to become photographed with 
this garb on. This picture was copied and freely 
circulated in the bazaars until the worst passions of 
the people were aroused. It was represented that the 
picture was taken to bring odium upon the Moham- 
medan faith. Of course, there was no such intent, 
but it clearly shows how r prudently a European must 
walk in Persia. 

This incident had scarcely closed when a rebellion 
broke out in the region of Hamadan and Kerman- 
shah, headed by the Prince Salar-ed-Dovleh, half- 



SU TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

brother of the Shah. He had organised a strong 
but undisciplined force, largely from the hill-tribes 
in Kurdistan, with which he threatened Hamadan. 
It was claimed that after taking Hamadan he pro- 
posed to proceed to Teheran and contest the Throne. 
It was not evident who had encouraged him to think 
that a parliament would support such a venture, for 
the latter stood loyally by the Shah, and the re- 
bellion, after a month, failed completely. 

The burdens resting upon the shoulders of the 
new Shah naturally made him wish for an expe- 
rienced man to share with him these responsibilities. 
Four years before, AH Askair, Emin-e-Sultan, had 
been sent into exile, or, in other words, had been al- 
lowed to leave the country, after having been twice 
Prime Minister. He was an exceedingly clever man, 
and had been popular with the people until he was 
charged with negotiating a needless loan of twenty 
million dollars, connected with which there was no 
small graft. His recall to Persia from Europe was 
urged upon the new king by various influential lead- 
ers. In May, he arrived in Teheran, and took the 
title of Attabeg, the highest possible Persian honour. 
But four years had changed the whole political situ- 
ation, and this fact he did not seem to realise. Men 
in Persia are old at fifty, and old men find it hard to 
readjust their views, prejudices, and general atti- 
tude toward questions. 

One evening in September, as he was leaving the 
Parliament, he was fatally shot, the assassin at once 




THE LATE PRIME MINISTER OF PERSIA, ATTABEG 
EMIN-E-SULTAN. 

Assassinated at door of Parliament Building, September, 1907. 



MOHAMMED ALI MIRZA 325 

committing suicide. The Minister's body was quietly- 
taken without special honours to Kum for burial. 
Strange as it may seem, the grave of the assassin 
was at once honoured as a place of pilgrimage, on 
one day as many as twenty thousand people going 
with flowers to pay homage to his memory. In the 
minds of many, he at once became a national hero, 
and poets made him the subject of their verse. Such 
a situation naturally struck terror to the hearts 
of many leading citizens and called for the wis- 
est and most prudent action on the part of all in 
authority. 

It was just at this time that the terms of the 
Anglo-Russian agreement concerning Persia were 
made public and caused some feeling on the part of 
many of the leaders. They were naturally sensitive 
about anything that touched the commercial as well 
as the political independence of the country. As a 
matter of fact, the Agreement did not prejudice 
those interests, nor did it in any way encroach upon 
the interests of third parties; it was confined to re- 
ciprocal stipulations on the part of Great Britain 
and Russia. The recognition of the principle of the 
open door by the Agreement was a manifest 
acknowledgment that the rights of other Powers 
could not be disposed of without consulting the lat- 
ter. So the Agreement would seem to assure the 
independence of Persia and the perpetuation of the 
different foreign interests represented there. While 
some of the leading members of the Assembly saw 



326 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

good in this new order of things, the majority were 
very suspicious about it, and these conflicting views 
led to much debate and some friction. 

The fact that Turkish troops had crossed the fron- 
tier and had laid claims to territory about Urumia 
and Salmas added not a little to the difficulties of 
the situation. An army, under the leadership of 
Prince Firma Firman, sent to the region, had been 
defeated by the Turks and forced back into the 
region about the lake. The question at this writing 
is still under consideration by a commission. 

In November (1906), the Shah paid his first visit 
to the Assembly. He was received with great 
honour and the pomp befitting his high office. Un- 
fortunately for the country, this era of good-fellow- 
ship between the executive and legislative branches 
of the government was of short duration. A few 
weeks after this royal visit to the Assembly keen 
friction arose between them. This happily was set- 
tled without serious results. 

Some months later, as His Majesty was driving 
out for his usual Friday excursion to the country, a 
bomb was thrown that killed several outriders and 
demolished the automobile. The Shah had left the 
motor-car and was riding in a closed carriage at 
the time of the throwing of the bomb. In this he 
showed great bravery, getting out of the closed car- 
riage, giving directions about aid for the wounded, 
and going on foot from the place of the tragedy to 
the Palace. The wounded outriders were sent to the 



MOHAMMED ALI MIRZA 327 

American Mission Hospital, where they were cared 
for. 

With the political horizon darkened by clouds 
driven in divers directions by many cross winds, 
great questions yet unsettled, and much unrest and 
expectancy throughout the country, the first year of 
the reign of His Imperial Majesty, Mohammed AH 
Mirza, Shahinshah, closed. It had been strenuous 
enough to suit a Roosevelt, but much had been ac- 
complished, notwithstanding the fact that the fric- 
tion between the legislative and executive depart- 
ments of the government had steadily become more 
and more acute, and threatened open warfare. 

In June, 1908, the political storm cloud burst, 
bringing destruction to the Parliament building, 
death to a number of the liberal leaders and many 
others, banishment and exile to some, and great loss 
of property to many. It seems that the Shah sent 
his soldiers to the Parliament House to arrest cer- 
tain persons charged with conspiracy who were seek- 
ing protection there. When the demand for them 
was made it was refused by the Parliament. This 
was followed by some firing upon the Cossacks and 
the throwing of a bomb. Then the Cossacks at- 
tacked the Parliament House itself, and when re- 
sisted cannonaded it, not only destroying it, but do- 
ing much damage to the great mosque, Sapar Salar, 
that joined it on the south. Naturally, panic at once 
prevailed throughout the city, and continued until 
order was restored by martial law. There was more 



328 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

or less looting of private estates during the riots. 
Among the liberal leaders executed was Malik 
Mutakalamin, the great Nationalist preacher, upon 
whose eyes we had operated for cataract six months 
before. He was sent to the hospital by the Parlia- 
ment for treatment, quite blind, and we never saw 
him again after he returned home seeing. 

The disturbances were more severe in Tabriz 
than in Teheran, and at this writing the result is not 
known. Throughout the whole country the contest 
was waged, but in most places the victory was to the 
strong. The Shah, by his extraordinary methods, 
had struck terror to the hearts of the revolutionists, 
and established his authority. His failure to gain 
control in the previous December emboldened the 
revolutionists, and in view of subsequent events was 
unfortunate, for had he then taken more active meas- 
ures many lives might have been saved. At that time, 
he seemed reluctant to use force. To properly judge 
His Majesty's policy in this crisis, it must not be 
forgotten that he had very explicit reasons for fear- 
ing that his throne was in danger. It cannot be 
denied that the capital was honeycombed with revo- 
lutionary societies, often led by unwise heads, that 
these organisations were so mixed and intermixed 
with the mighty potential forces for good that first 
prompted the inauguration of the Parliament and 
Constitution, that they could not be eliminated 
without injury to the innocent. In the eyes of the 
Shah, the offence of the Parliament lay deeper than 



MOHAMMED ALIMIRZA 329 

mere meddling and the habit of much oratory. It 
was a situation involving the future of the dynasty, 
and, when a throne is at stake, the game is not 
played with soft hands even in the Occident, much 
less in the Orient. 

Another election will be called this autumn, after 
which the second Parliament will convene. It will, 
doubtless, be more in accord with the Shah's inter- 
pretation of the Constitution than the latter appears 
to have been. It is now too soon to predict what 
the ultimate end will be, but it is well for all parties 
to bear in mind the oft proven fact that the tree of 
liberty is hardy and thrives best when watered by 
storms and cloudbursts. 



XX 
THE REFORM MOVEMENT 

THE whole world knows that Persia is in a 
state of political, economic, and social 
change. The people are in a condition of 
expectancy, and everywhere there is unrest. They 
seem to have cast to the winds as worthless their 
former boast, that the laws of the Medes and Per- 
sians never change. But this movement in Persia 
is only a part of the general change now found in 
many places throughout Asia. It is worse than use- 
less, if not absolutely silly, to try to conceal the true 
conditions in the Orient to-day. The triumphs of 
Japan, the power of Europe and America, and the 
great need apparent on every hand in Asia, have 
combined to create what may well be called an Ori- 
ental unrest. 

There is a new Persia, and the conditions through- 
out the country are of such a character as to call for 
the best efforts of the most experienced. These con- 
ditions had their origin away back in the early days 
of Nasr-ed-Din Shah, when Mirza Taghe Khan 
was the Prime Minister, now fifty years ago. This 
man paid the penalty of death for holding certain 
political views that were then thought to be too lib- 

330 



THE REFORM MOVEMENT 331 

eral. For the next forty years, if any one held to 
these same liberal notions concerning governmental 
affairs, he did not express them. It would seem, 
however, in the light of subsequent history, that not- 
withstanding the fact that they were not expressed, 
they were filling the minds of the people. In 1891, 
when the same hand that sent away the doomed 
vazier tried to inaugurate a new system of revenues, 
by means of the now celebrated Tobacco Corpora- 
tion, he met worse than failure. This was an English 
corporation, which, in short, proposed to pay an 
enormous sum into the public treasury for a monop- 
oly on the tobacco grown and used in, as well as 
exported from, Persia. 

The charter was most liberal, and if the conces- 
sionaries had been wise and tactful, recognising the 
prejudices of the people from a religious standpoint, 
the scheme might have gone through without oppo- 
sition strong enough to have seriously interfered 
with its workings. Another thing that militated 
against the success of the corporation was the 
thought that seemed to fill the mind of the head of 
the concern, that by reaching a few grandees the sit- 
uation could be controlled. If, instead of using so 
much money, they had exercised less authority and 
used a little more tact, it would have been far better 
not only for themselves, but also for the country, 
and for foreigners subsequently residing there. 

They failed utterly in keeping their finger on the 
pulse of the people. We have found that this often 



332 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

happens on the part of the Westerner in dealing 
with the Oriental. Too many undertake gigantic 
schemes without a knowledge of the language, char- 
acter of the people, the national spirit and purposes, 
to say nothing of the prejudices, religious and other- 
wise, that do more than anything else to move the 
national body. 

This attempt to inaugurate a new system of tax- 
ation met everywhere with most serious opposition. 
The Persians are a nation given over to the use of 
tobacco, both men and women using large quantities 
of it; but when the Mujtihid of Kerbela, the leader 
of the Shiah Mohammedans, issued his now famous 
decree forbidding the use of tobacco throughout 
Persia so long as the tax was imposed, every pipe 
was put away. Men, and women, too, for that 
matter, accustomed to the soothing effects of the 
weed, became more and more irritable, and at 
the same time more determined to gain their free- 
dom by the expulsion of the company from the 
country. 

Early in January, 1892, a mob surrounded the 
Palace, in Teheran, and demanded the cancelling of 
the company's charter and the withdrawal of all its 
agents. It was evident to all thinking minds that 
the foundations of the government had been shaken, 
and that the lives of all foreigners were in danger. 
Nasr-ed-Din Shah was evidently of this judgment, 
as well as the entire foreign colony. After a riot, 
in which several of the disturbers were killed, the 



THE REFORM MOVEMENT 333 

demands of the people were granted, and the con- 
cern left the country. 

The heavy indemnity of two and a half million 
dollars, less the assets and expenses of the company, 
of a little more than half this sum, left the promoters 
with a well-filled pocket, but hurt frightfully the 
prestige of all foreigners throughout the coun- 
try. This was regretted most by the leaders in the 
English colony in Teheran, who, knowing the coun- 
try well, saw only failure for the company from the 
beginning. To those at home who would compare 
the tact and wisdom of commercial enterprises oper- 
ating in the Orient to the lack of these qualities in 
missionary endeavour, greatly to the disadvantage 
of the latter, the history of this commercial venture, 
as well as others, under American and European 
management, might prove helpful to them. 

It cannot be charged that all Persia's subsequent 
troubles were due to the failure of this company, 
but it did leave Persia with its first national debt. 
Although the sum was small for a nation to pay, it 
was the beginning that continued to increase by for- 
eign loans throughout successive administrations, 
and had multiplied nearly ten-fold when the present 
ruler came to the throne. 

Another contributory factor to the subsequent 
happenings in Persia, due to the failure of the Im- 
perial Tobacco Corporation, was the influence the 
victory brought the religious leaders. With the 
passing of this company the power of the ecclesias- 



334 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

tical leaders became more pronounced each year, and 
ended in the establishment of a National Assembly 
and a constitutional form of government, as related 
in previous chapters. It was only natural after all 
that had gone before, that the priesthood should 
have a strong influence in moulding subsequent 
events. Besides, they are the leaders in intellectual 
as well as in religious thought, and without them it 
is difficult to see how the reform movement could 
have succeeded. If history repeats itself, as it has 
done in other countries, the influence of the priest 
in politics will decrease as the Liberal movement 
gains strength. 

For the past ten years and more, the country, 
while advancing intellectually, has been going back- 
ward in material affairs. The rich are finding it 
harder to meet their obligations, and the peasants, 
in many localities, are banding themselves together 
to resist the tax-gatherer. It seems strange to those 
of us who have known Persia under the old regime, 
to hear the merchant, artisan, and sometimes the 
labouring mechanic, discussing schemes for the bet- 
terment of the people. Many of these, of course, 
are wild and childish, but they, nevertheless, indicate 
that a new era of thought has dawned upon the 
people, and that they are living in a period between 
the dawn and the full daylight in their political 
history. 

The crop of newspapers which recently sprang up 
in the Capital is suggestive of the transformation be- 




MEMBERS OF FIRST PARLIAMENT FROM PROVINCE 
OF TEHERAN. 




THE GREAT SHRINE AT KUM. 
Here the Reform Leaders have sought refuge from persecution 
different times. 



at 



It is one of the most sacred shrines in Persia. 



THE REFORM MOVEMENT 335 

ing wrought in the land. " The Assembly," " The 
Civilisation," " The Cry of the Country," " Jus- 
tice," " Progress," " Knowledge," are some of these 
periodicals. Another bore the striking title of 
" Gabriel's Trumpet." Under the title was a pic- 
ture of an angel flying over a thickly-populated cem- 
etery, from which the dead are coming forth to life. 
Attached to the trumpet was a scroll with the motto : 
" Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity." The govern- 
ment has now stopped the publication of this jour- 
nal. A year before, there was not a single 
political paper published, although there were sev- 
eral devoted to science, education, and general 
news. One of the articles of the Constitution pro- 
vides that so long as newspapers print nothing in- 
imical to the fundamental interests of the State, 
they have full liberty to print what they choose. The 
whole of the discussions in the National Assembly 
may be printed, but owing to their length and ver- 
bosity no one has yet done so. 

Nor is the discussion of Persia's interests con- 
fined to these local journals. Less than a year ago, 
the Minister of the Interior, who was at that time 
also President of the Council of State, said on the 
floor of the National Assembly, when referring to 
the interest now taken in Oriental affairs, that for- 
merly not a paragraph was printed about Persia, 
while to-day one sees something concerning it almost 
every day. 

In the Teheran papers may be seen, daily, articles 



336 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

discussing old laws to be revised or new ones to be 
enacted, negotiations for concessions, treaties, loans, 
all financial measures, including even the royal ex- 
penditures, the levying of taxes, the construction of 
railways, waggon roads, and other needed internal 
improvements. 

The first National Assembly consisted of two 
bodies, a lower and an upper house, corresponding 
to our Congress. Both houses are elective, ex- 
cept that fifteen members of the senate or upper 
house may be appointed by the Crown, and all bills 
must pass them both before becoming law, besides 
receiving the royal seal. At present, the limit of 
the lower house is fixed at two hundred members, 
while the upper house is limited to fifty. 

It remains to be seen whether representative in- 
stitutions are workable in a country like Persia, 
where probably nine out of ten voters are without 
education or training in self-government. Some are 
looking for a foreign protectorate, and not a few 
of the property-owners would welcome such a solu- 
tion of this vexed question. The Christians, such as 
the Nestorians and Armenians, are not directly rep- 
resented in the Assembly. Neither are the Jews. 
There were a good many Babees, probably, in both 
houses of the Parliament or Assembly, but they were 
known as Mohammedans. 

In the meantime, business is frightfully depressed, 
and in many localities an accident, such as the failure 
of the crops, would put whole communities on the 



THE REFORM MOVEMENT 337 

verge of starvation. Worse even than this is the 
dangerous condition of many of the overland trade 
routes that prevent the usual transfer of products. 
Public confidence everywhere has been badly shaken, 
and people who have money are hoarding it up, 
awaiting the result of these attempted reformations. 

Were it not for the Anglo-Russian agreement to 
respect the independence of Persia, we might expect 
some radical changes in Teheran. The gradual ex- 
tension of Russian influence about the Caspian, and 
in the western provinces, would seem to point to the 
eventual absorption of at least that part of Persia. 
Evidently Russia prefers commercial control over 
the north of Persia, rather than political influence, 
which would bring with it the cost and responsibility 
of complete control. It would seem that Great 
Britain takes the same view, as she is not anxious to 
undertake the government of more than just enough 
to protect her Indian frontier. German interests 
in Persia are increasing some, while the interests of 
France are well looked after by her Foreign Office. 
It is hard to see how any of these Powers can extend 
a helping hand to Persia. It would seem that it 
was " up to her " to work out her own reformation. 

Can the country be regenerated under these con- 
ditions? is a question one hears very often in Amer- 
ica. Can new wine be put into old bottles? is but 
another way of stating it. The regeneration of 
every country that has reached the goal of honest 
government has been slow and full of discourage- 



338 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

ments. The sowing to the winds of graft, and reap- 
ing the whirlwinds of defeat, has been the experi- 
ence of not a few Occidental as well as Oriental 
countries. That there is true patriotism in many of 
the Persian hearts cannot be denied; while, on the 
other hand, it is equally true that the taking of bribes 
is the greatest menace to honest and successful gov- 
ernment. It is conceded on every hand that there 
are not a few able, wise, and strong heads directing 
the affairs of the Liberal movement. But there must 
be wholesale education throughout the country, 
along moral as well as educational lines, before the 
present unrest will find a permanent solution. There 
is always hope when a saving remnant among the 
people are honest, and that is just the condition in 
Persia to-day. The difficulty rests in the fact that 
so large a per cent, even of the better classes are not 
prepared by education to take part in the reforms. 

A limited system of railroads in Persia would do 
more than anything else to benefit the country and 
bring material progress to the people. Anything 
that will do this will have the hearty support of the 
masses. No doubt, as Persia's finances are put upon 
a better footing, foreign capital will be available 
for these much-needed improvements. When this 
is done, her exports will increase, and her trade will 
be greatly stimulated; but, better than this, it will 
make famine almost impossible, for, owing to the 
different climatic conditions throughout the country, 
there is always a good crop in some districts. The 






THE REFORM MOVEMENT 339 

difficulty has been that because of lack of transpor- 
tation, there is not infrequently an abundant harvest 
in one district, while in others, too far away to be 
reached by caravan, there is at times absolute fam- 
ine. Any scheme that will reduce the price of bread, 
and keep the people well fed, will go a long way 
toward solving many of Persia's present troubles. 

A beginning in the way of road-making has al- 
ready been effected, the road mentioned in another 
chapter, between the Caspian and Teheran, being the 
first one constructed. There is also a fair extent of 
waggon roads about Teheran and Tabriz, but the 
hope of the country is in a railway from Meshed on 
the east, to Tabriz on the west, via Teheran, with 
another line to the Gulf via Kum, Ispahan, and Shi- 
raz. These and similar improvements will be in- 
augurated, doubtless, during the beneficent reign of 
the present ruler. One of the most hopeful signs 
is that among the Persian people the opinion prevails 
that most of the foreigners represent principles for 
which the nation is contending, and are consequently 
entitled to esteem and consideration. The National 
Assembly, in the autumn of 1907, had notices 
posted in public places that foreigners were to be 
considered guests of the nation, and their per- 
sons must be held sacred and free from insult and 
molestation. 

If the revenues of the country are properly cared 
for, it is quite possible for Persia to raise an army 
that could defend its borders. The present condi- 



340 TWENTY YEARS IN PERSIA 

tion of the military should not lead any one to think 
that the Persian soldiers are not capable of being 
trained. At least this is the opinion of those who 
are in a position to know best. If the troops were 
well-paid, officered by Europeans who would enforce 
righteous discipline, it would not be long until the 
world would sit up and take notice. They are capa- 
ble of enduring the greatest privations and often 
make long marches on rations that a Western soldier 
would not eat. Many of them are brave and ready 
for any conflict. Their clothing may be of the cheap- 
est cotton, and their pay annually less than what an 
American soldier costs per month, but so long as 
they are paid and well-disciplined, they will fight. 
Cavalry drawn from the Bakhtiaris, Kurds, and 
other hill-tribes could defend their country against 
almost any sort of an invasion. No mountain pass 
is too high, and no road too rough, for them to 
travel. The possible reorganisation of the Persian 
army may be remote, but, nevertheless, it is deemed 
a possibility. More unexpected things than this 
have happened in Iran during the last two years. 

I think any one who will read the preceding chap- 
ters, touching upon the social life of the people, will 
see that while just laws are greatly needed, they 
alone cannot bring about the desired results. All 
want to see a government that will plant a hope in 
the hearts of the people, and give them something 
to live for — anything less than this cannot be called 
government. But this is quite impossible so long as 



THE REFORM MOVEMENT 341 

the people remain in ignorance and error. With 
such a people the volume of business must be small 
until economic reforms are instituted. There ought 
never to be any conflict between the administrator, 
merchant, and missionary in Asia, for their inter- 
ests should all point to one thing, viz., the raising 
of the people to the place where they can help them- 
selves. True, there will be little fires of criticism 
sometimes, started by little matches, that will do 
much harm to all interests in the Orient; but these 
things are always unfortunate, yet at the same time 
unavoidable. 

Thus the struggle in Persia is along the three lines 
indicated above, and must be met by the enactment 
of just laws, the inauguration of better business 
methods, and the establishment of schools, where the 
value of honesty and truth is taught. If any one 
of these three things is done, though the other two 
are left undone, it will help materially; but the rem- 
edy will not be complete. 



GLOSSARY 



Agha: a feudal lord, master 
Akhd: betrothal 
Anderoon: harem 
Arusee: wedding 

Bast: refuge 

Beroon: an office or recep- 
tion room for men 

Benafchees: violets 

Bismallah: in the name of 
God 

Bodgee: a maid-servant 

Chavador: muleteer 
Chinar: a sycamore tree 
Chuddar: an outer garment 
for women 

Ducan: a shop in a bazaar 

Fairdeh: to-morrow 

Farsakh (parsang) : about 
four miles 

Feruz : a turquoise 

Frangee (Frank): a West- 
erner 

Ganj : treasure 



Hakim: a doctor 
Hakim Sahib: 
doctor 



a qualified 



Iran: Persia 
Iranee: a Persian 
Inshallah: if God wills 
Istakharreh: casting the die 

Jujeh: a chicken 

Kabob: roast meat 

Kanats: underground aque- 
ducts 

Kajavehs: large panniers 
used for carrying travellers 

Kalyan: a water-pipe used by 
smokers 

Kersi (Kursi) : a household 
arrangement for heating 

Kolah: a Persian hat 

Kurban: a sacrifice 



Madrasseh: 
Madokhal: 
Mirza : if 

name, a 
Mirza : if 

name, a 
Mollah: 

priest 
Mord-ob: a 
Mundji: a 



a native school 
graft 

placed before the 
scribe 

placed after the 
prince 
a Mohammedan 

bay or dead-water 
private secretary 



Naib : an assistant 

sentative 
Nazeer: a steward 



or repre- 



343 



344 



GLOSSARY 



Pairdeh: curtain 
Penadooz: a shoemaker 
Pilau: a sort of cooked 

rice 
Pollon: a pack-saddle 

Sahib: an Oriental term 
meaning master or Mr. 

Sag: a street-dog 

Salak: a disease known as 
Bagdad or Delhi button 

Savob: merit 

Seegahs: concubines 



Shahinshah: King of Kings 

Shan: a general term for rep- 
utation 

Sheik: chief 

Sheik-ul-Islam : a high priest 
of Islam 

Shireen: sweet 

Tacktravan: a litter used in 

travelling 
Tamashah: a spectacle 
Taziyeh: a theatre 
Tuly: a hunting-dog 




ft" ' 74 If*, I* 



m& <&'■ Mt.Elwen 
$^%#ermaii 

f%% s 4 , 




INDEX 



Adcock, Sir Hugh, 287 

Agriculture, 115, 116, 268 

Ahwaz, 151 

Alexandretta, 29 

Aleppo, 29, 30, 31, 32 

Ali Allahees, 167 

Americans in Turkey, attitude 
of government towards, 61 

Americans in Persia, number 
of, 9 

Amol, city of, 144 

Anglo-Russian agreement, 126, 
325 

Animals, treatment of, 249 

Apathy in Persia, cause of, 10 

Apostolic Church in Assyria, 
21, 146 

Ararat, Mt, 124 

Arbab-Jamshid, 89 

Armenians, 83, 120, 171, 239 

Armenian massacres, 62 

Artists, 194 

Aryan races, 10 

Ask, town of, 143 

Assembly, National, inaugura- 
tion of, 315; department of 
government, 279; Shah vis- 
its, 326; destruction of 
building, 327 

Attabeg, see prime minister, 
324 

Author, three journeys to 
Orient, 10 

Author, thanks of, 12 

Author, journey across Asia 
Minor, 30 

Avicenna, the physician, 136, 
137 



Bab, Babism, 163, 164, 165 

Babylon, 45 

Bagdad, 45 

Bagh-e-Shah, 117 

Bakhtiari hill tribes, 151, 340 

Baku, 7 r 2, 175 

Bank, Imperial, of Persia, 271 ; 

right to issue bank-notes, 

273 
Bank, National, 272 
Barfurush, 145 
Baths, 142, 189 
Bell, Col., robbed,*^ 
Berwer, visit to chief of, 

56 
Boiajian, Mr. and Mrs., death 

of, 65 
Books, writing of, 195 
Brides, in Kurdistan, 49; 

lower classes, 204 
Bridegrooms, 49, 206 
Budge, Dr. E. Wallace, 44, 45 
Burial, Moslem, 128, 201, 202 

A 

Carpets, 131, 132, 133 f 
Calendar, Persian, 214, 215 
Cemetery at Teheran, 81 
Charms, 243 
Chebar River, 20 
Children, treatment of, 250 
Cholera, 41, 219, 220, 221 
Climate in Teheran, 102; in 

Tabriz, 119 
Clothing, 189 
Coan, Rev. Dr., 26, 61 
Constantinople, 15, 30, 31 
Constitution, proclaimed, 315 
Cochran, Dr. J. P., 247 



345 



346 



INDEX 



Country life, 139 

Court, officers of, 283; cost of, 

284; vices of, 284; doctors 

of, 286 
Customs, reorganization of, 

312 
Currency, system of, 269; 

among Kurds, 50 

Darius, 136 

Decorations or Persian orders, 
179 

Demavend, Mt., 109, no, 142, 
143 

Demavend, city of, 141 

Dervishes, 161 

Diabekir, 29, 65 

Divorce, 212, 244, 245 

Dinner, a native, 114 

Diseases, eye, 226, 251; un- 
usual, 228; native methods 
of treating, 227 

Doctor in Orient, visits of, II, 
197, 208, 288 

Doctor, native, 198, 199, 210 

Doty, U. S. Consul, 122 

Drama, religious, 156 

Durand, Sir Mortimer, 237 

Ecbatana, 83, 135, 136 
Education. {See Schools) 
Elburz mountains, yy f 108, 140 
Elkoosh, visit to, 46 
Emin-ed-Dovleh, 312 
Enzeli, 75 

Esselstyn, Rev. Dr., 140 
Esther, tomb of, 135 
Evil eye, 192, 242 

Fars, province of, 150 

Feruz Kuh, 140, 148 

Fire worshipper and sun, land 

of, 9 
Fighting in Persia, 323, 327, 

328 
Food, 114, 184, 185 
Fruits, no, 142 
Frangee, meaning of, 130 



Gambling, 252 

Grain grown, 115 

Grant, W. Henry, 60 

Grant, Dr., in Kurdistan, 27; 
death, 27, 216 

Gulhec, English summer re- 
treat, 104 

Hamadan, route to, 128, 133; 
description of, 135; popula- 
tion, 135; American Mission 
at, 137; trade routes to, 138; 
ancient landmarks, 138. 
Hasanna, destruction of, 59 
Hardinge, Sir Arthur, 105, 

106, 107 
Hardy, Hon. Arthur S., 108 
Hills, life in, 103 
Hills, Shah's palaces in, 109 
Holmes, Dr. G. W., 180, 217, 

249, 308 
Homes, Persian, 94, 224 
Horses, Persian, 191, 263 
Hospitals, in Teheran, 10, 224, 
225 ; in Hamadan, 137 ; in 
Urumia, 125 
Hybennet, M., 266 

Infanticide, 242 
Intemperance, 90, 252 
Insane, treatment of, 251 
Iran, origin of name, 10 
Irak, province of, 131 
Ishmael, descendants of, 168 
Ispahan (Isfahan), 151; mis- 
sions at, 151 ; trade of, 151 ; 
routes via, 151 

Jezira (Jezireh), 29 

Kasvin, description of, 78; 
American Mission at, 80; 
Indo - European Telegraph 
at, 80 

Kermanshah, 133, 216 

Kenny, Dr. A. L., 254 

Kitchen, Persian, 183 

Kharput, destruction of mis- 
sion, 65; journey to, 62 

Khoi, route via, 123 



INDEX 



347 



Kochanes, Nestorian ecclesias- 
tical centre, 25 

Koran, 16, 200, 276 

Koyunjik, 46 

Kum, great mosque at, 128; 
burial ground at, 128; route 
to, 127 

Kurds, language of, 16; char- 
acter of, 16, 59; uprising of, 
246 

Kurdistan, extent of, 15 ; pop- 
ulation, 46; brigands in, 27 

Kurdish, Scriptures in, 16 

Labaree, Rev. Benj., 123 

Languages, Persian, 153 

Lar valley, 109 

Laundry, 191 

Laws, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277 

Letter writing, 180 

Lepers, 252 

Lindley, Hon. Dr., 287 

Lower classes, 195 

Luristan, 152 

Mardin, route via, 29 

Marriage in Persia, 49, 50, 206, 
207, 208 

Martyn, Rev. Henry, 150 

McDowell, Rev. E. W., 29, 33, 
34, 41, 46, 48, 66 

Mahde, the, 162 

Medicine, Western, in Persia, 
5i, 52 

Meshed-e-sair, 147 

Meshed, 150 

Mint, Persian, no 

Mirza, different meanings of, 
182 

Missions, American centres, 
216, 238, 239; English cen- 
tres, 216; medical, 216; in- 
fluence of, 216, 217; medical 
mission methods, 219, 220, 
221, 232; need of, 218; atti- 
tude of Europeans toward* 
230; purposes of medical 
work, 233, 234, 235-6; edu- 
cational work, 238, 239 



Mohammed Ali Shah, present 
ruler, age, 320; coronation, 
320; first year, attempt on 
life of, 326 

Mohammedans interested in 
hospitals, 12 

Mohammedans, sects, 155 ; ec- 
clesiastics, 161 ; attitude to- 
ward Armenians, 171 ; to- 
ward Jews, 171 ; toward Eu- 
ropeans, 170; Literalists, 
167; influence of priests, 333 

Mohammedanism, vitality of, 
155; duties of, 156; practices 
of, 169, 170 

Moharram, month of, 156 

Mosul, 27, 42, 43 

Mourning, month of, 156 

Muzaffar-ed-Din Shah, inau- 
guration, 307; trips to Eu- 
rope, 310; illness and death, 
3l8 

Nahum, home of, 46, 47 

Naus, M., 322 

Needs of Persia, 340 

Neligan, Dr., 289 

Nestorians, Mountain, 17; 
founding of mission to, 27 \ 
war with Kurds, 27; their 
missionary labours in China, 

Newspapers in Teheran, 334, 

335 
New Year, 214 
Nineveh, 45, 46, 47 
Nisibis, 21, 48, 65 

Oath, 276 

Odling, Dr. T. F., 288 
Oriental politeness, 31, 36, 154 
Orontes River, 32 

Par sees, 173, 174, 175, 176 

Pera bazaar, 75 

Persia, population of, 255; jf 
trade, 255; climate, 257; in- 
dustries, 258; silk culture, 
76, 262 ; mines in, 265 ; opium 



348 



INDEX 



culture, 263; fisheries, 262; 
dentists in, 266; laws of, 
273\ government, form of, 
279; ministry, 289; postal 
system, 294 ; telegraph, 295 ; 
education in, 295 ; army, 
296, 333', taxes, 298 

Pensions, 290 

Petroleum, found in Persia, 
268 

Phenomenon, natural, in Mes- 
opotamia, 20 

Pilgrims, 73, 113 

Pilgrimages, 158, 159 

Politics, missionaries eschew, 
246 

Prime Minister, 298, 324 

Quarantine, on Caspian, 72; 
on Zab, 41 

Rabino, Mr. Joseph, 271 

Railroads, extent of, in Persia, 
10, 112; need of, 338 

Ramazan, month of, 160 

Ravandooz, 60 

Rhages or Rhei, 83, in 

Reforms, political, 330-341 

Reforms, social, 236 

Resht or Rescht, description 
of, 75, 76; American Mis- 
sion at, 76; to Teheran, 77 

Rebellion near Hamadan, 323 

Roads, wagon, 339 
%+ Rugs, 131, 132, 260 

Sadowsky, Dr., 228 

Safar, month of, 158 

Salmas, route to, 123 

Saree, 147 

Sayids, 159 

Schools, 97, 175, 238, 239, 240, 

241 
Schneider, Dr., 287 
Scott, Dr. Joseph, 288 
Shah, 281, 282, 285; visit to 

mission, 291 
Shah^Abdul-Azim, 10, 11 1 
Shiraz, 150 



Sickness, 199 

Slaves, 283, 284 

Spelling, Persian names, II 

Sultanabad, 131 

Suj Bulak, 125 

Supna, district of, 48 

Surk Hizar, 141 

Straus, Mr., 131, 132 

Tabriz, origin of name, 119; 
language, 120; bazaars, 120; 
residence of Crown Prince, 
121; social life at, 122; U. S. 
Consul at, 122; route from 
Tiflis, 40, 123, 158 

Tariff laws, 278 

Teheran, population, 83 ; 
founding, 83; growth, 84; 
bazaars, 84; shopping in, 84; 
graft, 85; citadel, 95; pal- 
ace, 96; American Mission 
at, 99; Roman and Greek 
missions at, 99; American 
Hospital, 99 ; government 
of, 100; climate, 102; water 
supply, 218; from America, 
72 

Telegraph, Indo-European, 80, 
98 

Tholozon, Dr., 286 

Tigris, escape of Nestorians 
via, 21, 29; navigation on, 
44; author's journey down, 
44; bridge of boats, 46 

Time, system used in Persia, 
88 

T'Khoma, robbery in, 35 

Tobacco, common use of, 51, 
186, 332 

Tobacco, Imperial, Corpora- 
tion, 331 

Tokat, 150 

Topography, influence on peo- 
ple, 140, 152 

Torrence, Dr., 248 

Trebizond, route via, 10 

Transportation, 193 

Turco-Persian frontier, 46 



INDEX 



349 



United States, diplomatic rela- 
tions with, 246, 248, 281; 
no extradition treaty, 277; 
American ministers in Te- 
heran, 305, 306 

Urumia, 28, 40, 123-4-5, 216, 
238 

Vanneman, Dr., 246 
Van, Turkey, 62 

Weights and measures, system 

of, 268, 269 
Wishard, Bertha A., 105 
Wishard, Fred B., 105 
Wishard, Mr. and Mrs. L. D., 

60 



Wives, number of legal, 211 
Women, first hospital in Te- 
heran, 13 
Wooster, Ohio, 13 
Wooster, University of, 13 

Xenophon, among Kurds, 17 
Xerxes, 136 

Yezidees or Devil Worship- 
pers, 48 

Zab River, our camp on, 41 
Zergendie, village of, 103 
Ziegler agency, 131 
Zoroastrianism, 215 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




005 803 417 4 



